Frost and Stories
by tori.rodriguez.355
Summary: At nineteen years old, I'd thought magic had left me behind. Magic was for kids, and I wasn't one. I thought I was too old... and it killed me. Then my brother and I met Jack frost. After meeting Jack, my life changed completely. Note: All refferences to my past and Niles are true. The only fiction in my fanfic is Jack and post chapter one.
1. Meeting Jack Frost

I've always been one to choose sun over snow. My ideal temperature is somewhere between 65 and 75 degrees - that's Fahrenheit people, I'm from the U.S. However, even _I_ know it's not Christmas without a blanket of the stuff covering the ground. That's why the blinding reflection I get when I glance outside makes me smile on December 23rd. Last year we had a carpet of _grass_ on Christmas, it didn't even snow. It feels like Mother Nature decided to dump her PMS where I live. Michiana, southern Michigan/Northern Indiana to those of you who don't live here, is infamous for our fickle weather patterns. Right at the end and edge of Tornado Alley we get the occasional twister, but more often than not it's just sirens and false alarms. We've also been known to have 60 degree weather and snow all in one week. Heck, last year I remember a day where within a few hours I saw sun, rain, snow, wind, and sun again... all out one window. I stopped playing in the snow daily years ago, but it still brings a smile to my face when I see the stuff falling near Christmas.

My little brother was playing outside in our front yard. I was inside on my computer - big shocker - and keeping an eye on him through the windows. He was attempting to make a snowman - and failing. All the snowmen we've ever crafted were basically piles of snow with a scarf around them and a wooden nose painted to look like a carrot, so far, this one was no different. All of a sudden he came racing in through the front door and up to me, not even bothering to take off his boots or anything - meaning there was now clumps of slush pooling on the hardwood. But the way he's acting makes me ignore it for a moment.

Bouncing up and down with excitement, he looked like he might actually explode. I'm used to this excitement when he has something to tell me. Usually I don't find the same excitement - unless it's news of when one of our shows are gonna come back for the next season, then I get even _more_ excited than him. In any case, he'll never tell me what has gotten him excited until I actually ask.

"Tori, guess what!" Eyes nearly bulging out of his head with how wide they are, I figured that he's seen a rabbit - some live in our yard - or he finished the snow-lump and want's me to come see.

"What?"

"You'll _never_ guess who's in our yard!"

"Santa Clause?"

"No."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I should have said North."

He looked at me with an expression that said I'm not stupid and said, "That's the same person, Tori."

"I know, bud, I was making a reference. Ok, who's in our yard?"

"JACK FROST!"

I froze. Caeden doesn't play jokes on me, at least not of this caliber. He loves me too much, me being his favorite after all. We saw Rise of the Guardians last year like most of the worlds population, and we both loved it as much as all the other movies we've seen together, Wreck-it-Ralph and Hotel Transylvania among them. I fell in love with it more than him though. Jack was, mutually, our favorite character in the film. For Caeden it was because he was the Guardian of Fun. For me it was - to quote How to Train Your Dragon - that I looked at him and I saw myself. I see many similarities between Jack and myself, as I do with the majority of my favorites, for that very reason. Caeden knows that I like Jack far more than he does. Jack's mortal death, demeanor, personality and mannerisms called to me like a bug zapper to flies. I became an almost instant fan-girl, faving scores of fanarts of him specifically on deviantArt and even reading a fanfiction voluntarily... I don't ever do that.

I can tell that I actually _respect_ Jack for the fact that, every time I'd imagined talking to him - which I do with every favorite or original eventually - I don't imagine myself as the Storymaker. The Storymaker is my all-powerful self persona, where I can go into worlds and speak to any character I want, either within the story or in a pocket dimension, sometimes in my own. I will, often snap my fingers and alter said world and... yeah, all-powerful. I've _never_ done that with Jack. With Jack I've always been me, only me. Not the Storymaker, not a possible character in his story... just me. That shows I respect him that I am simply being myself when speaking to him. Which only makes me like him more.

Caeden knows this. That's why I know that he wouldn't try to prank my like this. He'd only tell me if Jack were really there, in our yard. It didn't cross my mind that it might not actually _be_ Jack Frost, but somebody pretending, Caeden's smart enough to realize if it wasn't. I know that Jack was really outside. That's why I froze. "Go back outside - keep him there - don't let him leave." I said, almost throwing my laptop in my haste to get up to my room. "And don't tell him I told you to." I rushed past him and up the stairs to my room. Yanking on a pair of sweatpants over top of my pajama bottoms, _Jack Frost is outside_, tugging on an extra pair of socks, _Jack Frost is outside_, smashing my feet into my boots - only zipping them up halfway in my haste - _Jack frost is outside_, and grabbing my coat, thrusting my arms through the sleeves as I nearly fly downstairs. I dared to hope - to believe. Jack is there, I know he is. Only after I am outside and can hear Caeden talking to someone - Jack - did I hesitate.

I didn't hear anyone else talking. The only voice was my brother's. _No... _I refused to let my mind wander down that possibility. _ Jack frost is outside. _I walked around the side of the house and I saw my brother. He was wearing his snow-suit, his boots, his gloves, his hat. His cheeks were red from being almost face first in the snow for the past hour. But I saw no teenage immortal. No blue hoodie, no bare feet, no old-world leggings, no white hair, no staff, no mischievous grin... No Jack.

Caeden was smiling and laughing at something Jack said. He noticed me coming towards them and said, "Jack's gonna help me build a snowman - a real one! One with a belly and a butt!" He laughed at his own use of the word butt. "I _told you_ Jack was here!" Turning to the air to his right he said, "Jack, this is my sister, Tori. See, I told you she'd want to meet you. You didn't believe me." He didn't notice my expression. He laughed again - probably from Jack's special snow. I forced a smile upon my face... my eyes held their own expression though. He didn't notice. I was struggling not to cry. What he _did _notice is that I didn't look at Jack, only at him. "Why are you looking at me?"

Before I could answer he looked to his right again, and I knew Jack was speaking, so I didn't. Caeden frowned. "What do you mean?" he said to the air. "Of course she can see you! Tori believes in everything! She saw fairies when she was little, she's seen Santa - well North - she believes in you more than I do!" It was even harder now to hold my tears in. "You see him, don't you?"

I swallowed around the lump in my throat and gently shook my head. "No... I don't. I'm too old."

"You're nineteen, you're not old. You're a kid still." Caeden is only nine - ten - I keep forgetting that his birthday was ten days ago, he doesn't realize yet that, when you reach a certain age, it doesn't matter how much, how hard you believe... you just don't get to see.

I barely heard his protests and I trudged inside. I barely made it to the couch, absently kicking off my boots on the way. I collapsed into the cushions and began to cry harder than I care to remember. What he said was right - I _do_ believe more than him. I _do_ believe in everything. When I was little I _did_ see Santa, when I got older I found out it was a family friend. I still believe that there is a Santa though, or at least there was once. I _did_ see fairies, at least that's what I thought they were. When we lived at our old house, almost every night since before I can remember, as I was falling asleep, I saw these lights drifting down from my ceiling. They were like fiber-optic dust-motes that seemed to evaporate about a foot and a half above my head, they were all the colors I've ever seen, and they shifted from color to color. I always felt safe when they showed up and I can never remember having a nightmare when they were there. One night I told my mom about them and asked if she could see them. She said yes, but when I ask her now she doesn't remember. The moment I asked her every single one became red. I only ever saw them once after that... years later in our current house, the number greatly diminished and very faint... it felt like good-bye.

And I _do_ believe in Jack more than Caeden does. And it broke my heart to not be able to see him. It breaks my heart every time I see the hope of _real magic_, in any form, only to have it swept out of my reach. I had really thought that this time would be different. Had really thought I'd be able to _see_ Jack. And it breaks my heart that I was wrong. Eventually I feel a cool breeze and I look up. On the window, written in frost were the words "Are you ok?". I sniffed and wiped the undersides of my eyes free of tears. My cheeks were soaked.

Out loud I said, "Honestly no." My voice was hoarse and squeaky from crying, but I didn't care.

The words seemed to melt away as they were replaced with ones that read "Why are you crying so much?"

My smile was as weak as my laugh. "Because I don't see you, don't hear you. He wasn't lying when he said I believe in everything. To be perfectly honest, I believe in _you_ more than I believe in God." I shook my head, feeling hopeless. "I really thought that'd I get it this time."

"Get what?" the frost words replaced the previous ones.

"Magic. I've been waiting to _really_ experience magic my whole life. I've been waiting for it to come back for 12 years." I let out a breath, weaker than a sigh as more tears crept into the corners of my eyes. "I thought this time wouldn't end in my heart breaking." My friends only ever see strong emotions from me, either happiness or anger, never any emotions hinting at weakness. This was why. My heart has broken so many times in my life that my every day self is stronger, emotionally, than most people I know. It is only when I throw strengths to the winds that I descend to those weaker emotions. I always hope that it wont, but it always ends the same way. A broken heart. Yet my belief has never wavered. My hope has never been dashed. I've never stopped wishing for magic. I've never lost my faith that magic will come back to me. Despite my many heart breaks.

"You still believe in me, even though you don't see me?" Though the words were merely written, I could almost hear the disbelief in their tone.

"Of course I do. Just because I can't see you, just because I can't hear you, doesn't mean you're not there, not real. Air exists, but I can't see or hear that - unless it's moving or dirty. Why wouldn't you?" I'd initially sounded surprised as I began my reply, the surprise turned into slight outrage and then to adamant belief.

The glass stayed clear as the minutes trickled by and I started to think that he'd either left or was called away. Then words crept across the panes. "I came here because I felt belief in me stronger than even my family. I thought it was your brother." the words sat there for a moment, then they were joined by one more sentence. "Now I think it's you."

I laughed mirthlessly. "Makes sense. That's what happens when you devour books. When you stubbornly hold on to your childhood magic long after those around you... That's what happens when you keep believing heart break, after heart break, after heart break... What doesn't kill you makes you stronger right?"

"I can help you see me. It'll take a snowball though."

"No! I don't want any special snow..."

"Why? I can tell you want to see me more than anything. Why not?"

"Because it feels like cheating. I want to see you. I want to see your hoodie, our staff, your hair, your smile, you... But I can't... Getting one of your snowballs feels like getting a gift I don't deserve, and that I know I don't." I shook my head again. "I may have grown up enough to know that, but the part of my childhood I treasure more than _anything_ is my ability to believe in _everything_, and to appreciate everything separately. I've sewn that scrap of the blanket into my business suit. And it's never going away. I just, can't get help, because I feel that, if I do, I'll be cheating because I had my chance. I'm not a kid. I'm nineteen years old... older than you..." My shaking head now hinted at despair. "The closest I deserve is this, talking through glass. Unless I do it on my own, I don't deserve it."

"Fair enough... feel better now?"

I smiled genuinely now. "Yeah."

"Good, because fun and sadness don't mix."

"I thought that was fun and _fear_." I said, jokingly.

"Ha, ha, very funny. You wanna come out and have a snowball fight?"

"I thought you were helping Caeden build a better snowman?"

"That works too, you coming?"

I was already pulling my boots back on - zipped up completely this time - as I said, "Duh!" I run out the door as fast as my feet could carry me. Around the corner, right where I left him is my brother. Poor Caeden, he looked confused, and I don't blame him. His sister, who is the most creative person he knows, who believes in everything, didn't see the Guardian of Fun. And then I cried. I never do that. "Hey, are we making a snowman or what?" I said excitedly. A smile instantly lit his face.

"YES!" His reply was like a triumphant one. Like he won a prize or something. As I saw the snow in our yard magically roll itself into three large balls, I realize that he did. I mean, how many kids have you met that can say they built a snowman with Jack Frost? I thought so. The snow was swept up by an isolated wind that spun it into a tightly packed ball. The biggest was right near the huge evergreen in our yard. Yes, we have our very own, permanent, Christmas tree. Anyway, we rolled the middle ball over, heaving it up on top of the butt ball. Then Caeden went over and picked up the head and I helped him center it on the belly ball. I wrapped the scarf around the neck as he put on the eyes and nose. I saw two sticks floating towards us and realized Jack had found the arms. He stuck them into our snowman's sides. I put his buttons on as Jack added his hat. Caeden and I stepped back to look at our creation.

"I have to say, Jack. You make one good snowman." The main reason all of ours had been lumps is because neither of us had ever mastered the art of butt and belly ball making... the best we could make was a lump with the head ball. "Then again, you are one, but..." I said jokingly and with a smile. I heard a faint laugh aside from Caeden's and my own, and my smile grew a bit wider. _I'm getting there._

It snowed all through Christmas. It started Christmas eve at about 8:00pm and kept snowing until about 10:00pm on Christmas day. The snow was perfect. Just enough to keep it looking fresh, sparkling in the sunlight, but not so much as to block the roads or for it to start melting into slush, or freezing into ice. That snow was always my favorite part of winter. Yes, I did say I prefer sun, but I never said I hate winter. I actually _do_ like it. Just not when the snow melts, then winter is ugly. When it is pristine and calm and ethereal... it's like a completely different world. That's when I like it.

Two days after Christmas our parents were back to work and I was watching Caeden again. Nick, our other brother, was spending some time with his mom. I'd visited my dad on Christmas day, having spent the Eve with my mom. If you haven't guessed yet, my parents split a while back. But it's all good. I have such a huge family now, I don't feel like I'm lacking at all. Caeden's only my half brother, Nick's my step. That doesn't mean we aren't close. Caeden and I that is. I love my brother, I really do. He's a mini me, and a total boy all rolled into one. We watch cartoons together, play games together, go out and do fun stuff together. We also fight, we _are_ siblings after all. But we make up really soon after.

For the past four days, Caeden had been relentlessly asking if - and when - Jack would come back. Not around anyone else of course. He'd only asked when it was just the two of us in the room. Every time he'd asked I'd simply said, "I don't know." I knew Jack would come back, eventually. I had no idea when though. I sort of figured that he'd wait until Christmas was over, but I wasn't sure if he'd wait 'til the new year had rolled in. Turns out, we didn't have to wait long, because right about noon there was a faint knocking sound on the window and the words "What are you doing inside?" wrote themselves in frost on the living room window. Caeden and I ware bundled up and out the door in two minutes flat.

Caeden launched himself at the air where I assumed Jack was. The air seemed to catch him for a moment before he stood back on his feet. I meandered over to the two of them, having to follow Caeden's eyes to figure out where Jack was. Caeden spoke up, "Jack want's to know if you still can't see him." I'd very faintly heard Jack's words as he said them, as if from a great distance, and the only reason I'd heard was because I was downwind.

I shook my head as I said, "Nope, but I can kind of hear you now. But probably only because it's quiet now. If we get loud I probably won't be able to." I could feel him smile at the news I could hear him, albeit faintly.

"What are we gonna do today, Jack?" Caeden knew, while the Spirit of Fun was here, we wouldn't get anything less.

"..._I was thinking a snowball fight..._"

"Sounds good to me!" I said as I ducked underneath the evergreen and began to pile snow for a semblance of defense. As I built more and more magically added itself, and perfectly round snowballs were piling themselves next to me. The same was happening to Caeden. "Jack, stop helping me, help Caeden, he needs it more." I said quietly, so only Jack would hear. Caeden had bad depth perception, which, in turn gives him horrible aim. He really _does_ need it more. Plus, my brother, sadly, is often hopeless when having to construct things without help. Unless hid building tools are Legos, then it's a different story. Our blockades finally done and our ammo stocked we stared each other down, waiting for the first move.

Suddenly, two snowballs came flying out of nowhere, one at each of us. Of course, Jack _would_ throw the first shot. Caeden and I opened fire on each other and Jack. Again, I had to follow Caeden's eyes to find Jack, I also payed attention to where the snowballs neither of us had thrown ere coming from. Laughter filled the air, and I was sure Caeden got hit with a few special snowballs because he was laughing harder than ever. All too soon it was getting late. "Alright guys, time! Mom's gonna be home soon and she's gonna be suspicious if she sees a few dozen extra snowballs flying around. Plus, mister," I said, directing my next comment at Caeden specifically, "I can see the cold on your face. You are redder than you are in summer. Time to warm up. Sorry, Jack." I said as Caeden half dejectedly trudged towards me. "We gotta call it a night. See you later!" _Hopefully, I actually _will_ see you._

That night, I felt a cold breeze from over by the window as I was playing on my computer. I got up and went over to my window, only to see some of the most beautiful frost patterns on it, surrounding the word "Tomorrow?" Being careful to not disturb the frost patterns, I wrote, underneath it, "Yep." For added effect, I also put this face ^^. I walked back over to my bed and put my night-time playlist on as I pulled up the covers and fell asleep. As I drifted off I thought I heard, "_See you tomorrow..."_

I woke up, glad that it was a Wednesday because I didn't have to work. I went downstairs to my brother's room and shook him awake. It was about 10:00am so everyone else was already gone for the day, I was surprised he'd slept in so late, he's usually up before I am.

Blinking he sat up and said, "What..."

"Jack said he's coming today." In an instant, Caeden was up off his bed and throwing on warm clothes. I chuckled as I walked back up the stairs to my room to do the same. I noticed a new set of words -well, numbers - on my window as I walked past "10:30". Smiling, I pulled on about five pairs of pants, increasing in thickness as I went, two pairs of socks, three shirts, plus a hoodie. I went and sat in the living room as Caeden came out looking like the Stay-Puft guy in his snowsuit. We had our gloves and hats in our hands as we waited for jack to make his appearance.

At 10:25, I said, "Let's go out and wait for him outside." We put on our hats, pulled up our hoods, put on our gloves and our boots. Jackets were the last things to go on as we walked out into the snow covered ground. In the other yard today, we were playing underneath the big tree when Jack swooped in out of nowhere, shaking snow from the branches and nearly burying us. A laugh followed the raining clumps of snow and I knew: It. Was. On.

We immediately launched into a snowball fight that lasts for hours. And we didn't run out of snow either, Jack took care of that. After a while I noticed that my car was crusted in Ice-Melt from slush getting sprayed up on it, and I started hurling snowballs at my car. Caeden joined in and, eventually, so did Jack. By the time my mom got home at 6:00 that night, my car practically sparkled. That night went the same as the previous, with jack leaving a note and me replying. However, this time I told him to meet us over at the school down the block from my house.

The next morning, Jack was already there when Caeden and I pulled up toting sleds. The school had a huge hill behind it that was perfect for sledding. We always came here when we felt like busting out the sleds, it's free and, frankly, better than the official sledding hill at the park. Caeden decided to go first, flying down on our two-person sled. I chose the round sled and took off after him. I saw Jack's staff skimming over the ground near me and realized he was boarding. After going down the hill a few dozen times, I sat up at the top as Caeden repeatedly wore ruts in the snow, I needed a break. I started secretly making a stash of snowballs while I sat. Once Caeden came back up the hill I started pelting him until I ran out of ammo. He tried to fight back but I grabbed one of the sleds and flew down the hill, way out of range. My escape ended with me landing in some bushes and laughs tearing out of me. I'd landed with one leg tucked up under me and one arm over my face, which was the main cause of my laughter. I unfolded myself, still laughing, and flipped over to see Caeden flying towards me. I saw that he'd miss me so I didn't move, I did, however, make a snowball to hit him with when he landed. And hit him I did, right in the middle of his back. "Hey!" I was too busy laughing to comment.

Another snowball fight broke out between the three of us, with Jack creating more ammo for us as we exhausted the snow around us. I threw at Caeden and at the air, thinking I might, at some point, hit Jack. And hit him I did. I threw a snowball and it seamed to splatter mid air... and then hang there. Caeden gasped. I had a hand over my mouth to try and keep from giggling. All of a sudden, a blue snowball flew at me and hit me smack dab in the middle of my face. I wiped away the snow, blinking, a smile still on my face and laughter ringing in my ears.

I froze with my eyes still closed. It was Jack laugh alright... but it wasn't faint anymore. It was loud and it was close. Carefully, so that they wouldn't notice, I reached for the nearest snowball. I began to smile more as I opened my eyes. My hand closed on the snowball and I zeroed in on Jack. I launched the snowball, yelling, "Screw cheating!" The snowball hit dead-center on his face. He sputtered as he wiped the snow from his face. His expression was caught between confusion and wanting to laugh. I jumped up from the ground. "You used one of your special snowballs!" I wasn't angry, getting hit with one of Jack special snowballs made sure of that... but I wouldn't have been anyway. I meant it when I'd said screw cheating. I could see Jack now.

The hair, the hoodie, the staff, the leggings, the bare feet, the eyes, the smile. Everything. _I could see Jack!_ My smile almost didn't fit on my face. "Jack, I can _see_ you!"I was laughing harder than I could remember... and I was crying. They were happy tears. I'd always thought, that, if I ever got wings, or a way to fly, that's when I'd be crying happy tears... but, _magic came back to me_. Jack and I sat - hovered in Jack's case - there with huge, goofy grins on our faces. Poor Caeden didn't know what was going on, so he stood there with a confused look on his face.

Before I could explain to Caeden what was going on, Jack cocked his head to the side and frowned a little. "I gotta go guys, sorry. There's an avalanche that I need to take care of." He waved good-bye as he flew off.

There was a message waiting for me that night on my window. "Tomorrow?" There wasn't enough room on my window to explain, so I spoke instead, hoping he was close enough to hear, as I didn't see him around. "I have to work tomorrow, I won't be home 'til late and my next day off is Tuesday... see you then?" My response was met with silence and I figured that Jack was out of range, so I wrote down my message and taped it to the window, facing outwards. I went over to my bed and went to sleep. I was _not_ looking forward to work.

Two hours in and six to go. Back drive-thru really got tedious sometimes. No one bothers to tell you when the line's moving, so you can't leave the window or people pull past and then we have to run the money back and fourth... why are people so stupid, I mean, honestly. When I say "Your total is whatever, pull around to the first window." What makes them think that the window with the giant number two on it is the first one... seriously. Plus we've been down twenty people since before I started almost a year ago, so that means, when you're in back drive, you take the orders, take the money and wash the dishes... that's supposed to be three different people's jobs...

However, today was fairly slow, so I actually had time to get the dishes done... Is it sad when you get excited to do dishes? Anywho, that's what I was doing, the dishes, when it got way colder all of a sudden, and the breeze wasn't coming from the freezer which was next to me. I shook the water off my hands and moved so I could look at the window, thinking it had slid open or something. What I saw was Jack waving at me from the other side of the glass. My jaw dropped. I grabbed an armload of trays and brought them over to the window. I started lining them as I spoke to Jack, window still closed.

"What are you doing here?" I didn't open the window because, if one of the managers were in the office, then it would look weird for me to randomly open the window when there were no cars.

"Can you open the window?"

"Sorry, when the next car comes I'll open it, otherwise I'll get in trouble."

"Where's the fun in playing it safe?"

I chuckled and kept on lining the trays. Soon I heard the tell-tale beep that told me a car was at the menu waiting to order. I went through the nearly mindless steps of taking their order. As they began to pull around I opened the window and bent down to turn up the space heater. I felt Jack fly over me into the store. I straightened and finished off the order, taking the money and closing the window. After the drawer clanged shut I went back to the dishes. "Jack, what are you doing here... at my work?"

"I decided that I wanted to see you at work... How do you keep from going crazy back here?"

"Usually? By singing whatever pops into my head, or working on my stories. Oh, and by angrily talking to the air." At his confused look I elaborated more. "Half the people who come through the drive thru are unbelievably stupid, and, I can't tell them that to their faces, so I say it back here where no one can hear me." I placed a huge smile on my face.

He walked around the room at the back, then tapped the big door at the back with his staff. "What's in here?"

"Freezer. This little door next to it leads in too, like a little window. I have _no_ idea what that's for though."

He grinned wickedly as he opened the smaller door and flew in, shutting it behind him. Inwardly, I sighed. Outwardly, I smiled. I couldn't wait to see the prank he was sure to pull. In any case I went back to work on the dishes. Just because Jack was here didn't mean I was about to get fired, I hate having a job, but I do need money, so, what're you gonna do. Right as I was getting into the dishes, my headset beeped again. I swear it's the most annoying sound in the world. I took another order, and right as I was about to go back to the dishes, another car came... then another... and another... and another. Next thing I knew we were wrapped around the building. I, of course, couldn't leave the window. A car could pull up and not see me, then they'd pull forward because they didn't know they were supposed to wait, and didn't know that we have other work to do than standing in a little, itty-bitty room just waiting to make their day better... Can you hear the sarcasm in my tone? Eventually, since no one had opened the freezer, Jack came out, probably out of boredom, and saw me about ready to bang my head against the wall.

I used to draw on receipt paper when we got like this and I didn't have trays to line, but I didn't have a pen back there today, and I'd gotten in trouble for it a few times, so I didn't do it often. I was, to put it simply, bored. I turned so that neither the customer nor the camera would see me talking and said, "I won't blame you if you leave out of boredom. I would but I'm getting payed, so I guess that's some consolation."

We walked into the window and looked out at the car next to it. "How often do you get kids coming through?"

"Considering we sell kid's meals? A lot."

He hmm-ed and stayed there as the line _finally _moved. I took the money for the next car and, miraculously, the line kept moving. The next car pulled up and I took the money. I could see a kid in the backseat playing with some toy. The kid looked up and I waved at them. They waved back, and then there eyes got huge. Jack pushed his face in between me and the window and grinned back at the kid. He frosted the window of their car and drew a bird that hopped into the kids lap. I found it the most hilarious that the mom was oblivious to the whole ordeal.

He did that for the next few hours whenever there was a kid in the car, Jack made a frost picture to give them a little fun while they had to wait in line. I ended up smiling almost all day. I love it when little kids are happy - unless they're snots, then I hate it when they're happy, because they need to learn to be nice. Jack had to leave about two hours before my shift ended, which was, coincidentally, right about the same time I got my break. Yay.

For the next months Jack came to see Caeden and I at least once a week, even if only for a few hours. To be honest, I enjoyed it more than Caeden. I knew that eventually he'd grow up and Jack would be nothing but a story from his childhood... just like everyone else. I think that's one of the reasons Jack and I became such good friends. We'd met when I was an adult, so there was no chance I'd chalk him up to childhood imagination. I'd never do that anyway, I hold too strongly to my stories for that to happen. Jack and I were more alike than I'd originally thought. Aside from the fact that we'd clung to our childishness long past the norm, we both liked seeing kids happy, with smiles on their faces. We both loved playing pranks and, well, what some would consider being mean, occasionally. We also both hid our negative emotions behind smiles. Not that they occurred often.

Most nights I went to bed with a frost note from Jack telling when he'd most likely show. I didn't mind in the slightest.

School had started up for me again, a full week after Caeden. I was about nine weeks into school and March was half over. Which meant winter was almost over. I was worried about how Jack and I would keep in touch through the summer. He'd fast become one of my best friends. It was like, if one of my ocs had come to life. I knew if any of them ever did I'd be friends with them almost instantly... it was the same with Jack. I didn't want to spend a whole year waiting for a friend to come back... after all, long distance relationships, whatever the type, rarely last... I didn't want to loose Jack.

I told him this, one Friday night after I'd got home from work. He laughed it off, as he always did with more serious subjects. He told me he'd be my friend no matter what and to calm down. I took his word for it, I knew he'd keep it, and pushed the trepidation aside.

Jack told me that it was going to be an early spring this year, which just meant more rain than snow in the next month or so. Precipitation likes to do whatever it wants here, regardless of the temperatures. I'd actually miss the snow this year, in part because, with spring coming early, the snow wouldn't be slush for as long, and partly because snow meant Jack. No. _Frost_ meant Jack, there didn't have to be snow for there to be Jack. I could accept that.


	2. Becoming Story Tale

I was driving home from class the last week of March. I'd stayed a little later and stopped by the library to get some books. Spring break was about to start and I needed reading material. On my way back, a freak storm came out of nowhere, which is, sadly, fairly normal here. It got stupidly dark for 6:00pm and the rain was so hard I could barely see the road. Of course I was on back roads and the road dropped off a few good feet on either side. I made sure there was no one else around before pulling out my phone and leaving my mom a message saying that I was looking for somewhere to pull over, I'd try and wait out the storm, and if I wasn't home when she got there that's why.

I was still driving, still looking for a place to pull over where I'd be able to get back on the road later when someone came at me barreling down the center of the road. I pulled the wheel to the right trying to go around the idiot when I felt my car tipping. My heart stopped and I swear I could feel adrenaline flooding through me. I threw myself the other way but it didn't work... my car fell over the side of the road, and landed a good fifteen feet away. After crashing through trees and falling about ten feet down, I was pinned... and of course my phone was now out the window in the rain.

"Shit..." I breathed. I tried to slither out from under the steering wheel, but it was no use, and all it did was send a shooting pain through my everything. I hurt... like, a lot. It hurt to breathe. Half frozen rain was pelting me in the face, as my window was now in shards - wait, frozen. "Jack!" I tried yelling, but it came out more like a croak. I winced at the pain my speaking had caused. "Jack, please..." _Please hear me._ I sat there, stuck and realized that no one was coming, no mortal anyway, my _only_hope was Jack. _I believe in Jack Frost. I believe in Jack Frost... I believe... in Jack Frost..._ It was harder to breathe now, and I struggled to stay awake. _No!_ I wasn't about to die before reaching twenty. I was not going to die before seeing the world... before leaving nowhere.

Then, I realized something.

For years, I'd promised whoever was listening, whoever _would_ listen, that, if I could get magic one more time, I'd live the rest of my life the same as everyone else. I'd have a mundane job, never leave Niles, MI, settle down get married have kids... if only I could have magic once more. I realized that I got magic, my promise was coming true. Since I'd met Jack, I'd worked at my mundane job, I'd stayed in Niles, and I'd gone to community college... in effect settling down... I'd just always thought the rest of my life would have lasted longer. Turns out I was wrong.

Tears crept out of my eyes as my vision dimmed.

Being dead was weird. I was vaguely aware of what was happening back by my body, but everything was a blur of the colors and the sound was warped and kind of distant. It was like looking through a cloudy kaleidoscope , but underwater. I wasn't pinned in my car anymore, I was sort of next to it, but I couldn't tell exactly where. After sitting for a few moments I saw a blue and white blur drop in from the direction of the sky and land by me.

_ "Tori!"_ It was Jack's voice. I saw him reach down and do something, before pulling something out of the dark blur that used to be my car... I think it was me. _"No... no!" _Jack curled into a ball and sat for a minute. Then he jumped up and started yelling at the sky. I looked up and saw that the moon was out. _Tsar Lunar... Many._ I'd never realized that, if Jack was real, so was the man in the moon. _"Bring her back! Make her immortal, like you did with me!"_

I heard Many reply. His voice was deep and velvety... and calm. _"Why?"_

_"Because she deserves it! She doesn't deserve to die now!"_

_"Why do you say that, Jack Frost?"_

_"Because she..."_ He paused. I was stunned at the conversation these two were having. Jack wanted me to be immortal. _"She hasn't had a chance to do one tenth of what she's capable of. She has the makings of a guardian. She cares about kids. She likes making them smile. She hasn't done what she was meant for yet..."_ Jack had sounded defeated as he said every word. He sounded just like I had when my heart had broken when I couldn't see him, back when we'd first met. How I would have felt if I'd not been able to see him after the summer.

_"I know you've seen her, Many. You see everyone, especially strong believers. She's the strongest I've felt in decades, if not centuries. How can you just let her die?"_ Tsar Lunar did not reply.

The next thing I knew, my eyes were snapping open. My real eyes, I was back in my body. Jack was still staring at Tsar Lunar, looking furious and desperate and sad beyond words, and yelling his head off. I heard Many's voice in my head, _"Your name is Story Tale... welcome back."_ I gasped. Not because I'd heard him, not because I was immortal, I wasn't that stupid as to not realize what had happened. I gasped because... the legend that I was, was what I'd always thought I would be.

Jack whipped his head around. "Tori!" He ran over to me as I sat up. "You're okay!"

I looked around at the scene. My car was mangled, my stuff strewn around. I looked down at myself. My clothes were almost as wrecked as my car, but there wasn't a scratch on me, nor was there a bruise. I wasn't in pain at all. _I really am immortal._ "Not exactly, Jack."

He looked at me, confused, and said, "What do you mean?"

I held out my hand and said, "It's nice to meet you, Jack Frost. I'm Story Tale, the spirit and feeling of stories" I smiled gently. Jack still looked confused. "I died Jack... Many brought me back."

Jacks expression changed. I couldn't read it, there were too many emotions in it to describe. He hung his head. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner, I'm sorry you..."

"Why are you sorry? Jack... I'm immortal. I'm the spirit of stories! Jack, I can do everything I've always wanted to do, waited to do - I don't have to wait anymore!" I reached around and ripped the Omni-Pod off of my back. I stared at the device that had kept me alive for the past fourteen years, almost to the day. "Jack... I'm not diabetic anymore." I started laughing so hard I cried. "I'm not diabetic anymore! I don't give a shit that I had to die for it... this is worth it! I can _see_ the world now. I can take as much time as I want because I have eternity! I can become Jenner, or at least his personal job anyway. I can save the world's magic before humans destroy it in their stupidity. I can see it all... I can experience it... and I don't have to worry about anything! I can spend the rest of eternity writing my own story!" I was standing now. I was elated. "Jack, that's all I've ever wanted, was to write my own story, and not have to imagine the entirety of it. To experience it firsthand. Thank you!" I nearly tackled him, as I launched myself at him in a hug.

When I finally let go of him I turned towards the moon. "Thank you, Tsar Lunar. For giving me my one wish." I was crying. Tears of joy, but I was still crying. Jack looked at me with a mostly amazed expression, though there were a few other emotions in there as well. A smile slowly grew on his face.

"So, what do you wanna do first? I mean, you _are_ immortal now. What do you do when you find out you can do anything, no consequences?" Jack asked me.

I said with little hesitation, "I see the world." Jack and I stood up. He offered me his hand and I reached out to take it. "Oh, wait!" I went back over to my car and broke off the side-mirror. I held it up and took a look at myself. "Hmm... I thought more would have changed." I looked mostly the same, skin tone was the same, features the same. My eyes were now black as opposed to dark brown. My hair was tri-tonal now, though. Where it used to be brown (dyed a reddish color), it was now peppered with black and blonde strands. The blonde was like the color of old paper. From far away it'd probably look metallic as a whole. I noticed where my veins could vaguely be seen, they were no longer a blue color, but black. "Hmm." I picked up a shard of glass from my window and pricked my finger, and sure enough, the blood oozed out black... like ink. I lifted my finger and sniffed. Gone was the metallic smell of blood, it smelled like ink now. I snorted.

"What?" Jack said.

"I have ink for blood... how weird is that?"

He shrugged. "No weirder than a man made of Dreamsand or a seven foot tall bunny that can talk and carries boomerangs." I laughed along with him.

"True." I gathered up a few of my things from their strewn about positions, emptying my bag and re filling it with the few things I wanted to keep. I then took Jack's hand. "Can we go back to my house first?"

"Are you sure about that? Tori... you shouldn't see your family so soon after... you know how this works."

"I know." I did. They'd grow up, grow old. They'd die, and I wouldn't. "I just want to get a few of my things. I don't know all my powers yet, so I don't know what I'll need... plus there are a few things I want to keep. I also want to get all my money from the back after it opens tomorrow, so we have to stick around long enough for that." I looked down at myself again. "And I need a change of clothes. It would not do well for Story Tale to meet other immortals dressed like a bum. And I need to start spreading my story... no one's gonna believe someone in a t-shirt and jeans is the spirit of stories."

He laughed at my tone, which was a joking one. "Well, after your house what're we gonna do. We'll still have, what, twelve hours to kill?"

"I have no idea. How about we make it up as we go? That'll make for a fun story."

We were at my house, Jack had snuck me in through my bedroom window. I'd crept down the stairs and closed my door, partly to keep the cats out, partly to keep anyone else from overhearing any disembodied voices. "I keep forgetting that I'm invisible now." I said to Jack as I packed a few bags.

"Not to every one. So, what's Story Tale gonna look like?"

"Well, we have a few options for that." I said walking over to my closet. I pulled out a gothic style dress that was actually a costume. "For when I need to look... eccentric. You had the cloak and vest for years before your uniform change. I plan on changing when I see fit." I grabbed my green winter jacket, and my boots, stuffing them in a bag with my pajamas. I put the dress in the bottom of my suitcase. I grabbed a few tank tops and other shirts, a few pairs of shorts, two pairs of jeans, non-hobo styled ones, and a pair of flip flops and put them on top of the dress. On top of those, I put a few long sleeved shirts , another pair of boots, a pair of sandals, and a pair of sweat pants. In another bag I put the few keepsakes I was going to take with me. My sketchbooks, a few other pieces of my art, my jewelry and jewelry making supplies (I figured I could sell those over the years, somehow), my quill pen made from a real feather, some of my favorite books out of my personal collection: _Just Ella_;_ Arabian Nights_;_ I, Coriander_; _Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales_; _Wreck this Journal_; _Swan Sister_; _Scary Stories to tell in the dark, More scary stories, _and_ Tales to chill your bones_; the three books I owned of _The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel _series; book one in the _Shadow Children_ series; all my books in the_ Pendragon_ series; my _Harry Potter_ books; _Holes_; and _Acheron_. I also had my I-pod and charger, as well as a flash-drive with all the pictures I'd had saved on my computer, as I was leaving that. The last of my keepsakes were pictures of my family and real friends. Oh, and one stuffed animal; a horse that'd I'd named Cowboy years ago. I'd had him as long as I could remember, he'd been there through hard times, I figured he still should. One last thing I took was my guitar, Meizie.

While Jack was taking my bags out of the window I snuck downstairs and into Caeden's room. I went over to his bed and gently shook him awake, secretly relieved when my hand didn't go through him. "Caeden. Bud wake up, it's me."

"Huh?" he said still mostly asleep.

"Bud, listen... I gotta go away for a while... for a long while. I'm... I'm going with Jack."

"Can I come too?"

"No, bud... I'm going with Jack 'cause I'm like him now... I'm... I died bud. I'm like a Guardian. I just have to take the oath." I smiled at him, trying not to cry. Why was this so hard? "I love you bud. Tell anyone you want about me. I'm Story Tale now. I'm that feeling you get when you're really into a story. Book or movie. I'm that feeling that authors and artists and musicians get when they're creating their art, their stories. I'm the magic that you can find in stories... so don't ever stop loving stories, ok? If you do that then I'll always be here." I hugged him and went out into the hallway. Jack was standing at the bottom of my stairs, arms folded and staring at me.

"Story."

"I had to say goodbye Jack. Wouldn't you have said goodbye to your sister if you'd had the chance?"

He sighed but nodded. "Yeah... Alright, lets, go."

Before we left I wrote a note, my own sort of will-and-testament. It read:

_Mom,_

_I'm sorry I had to go. I know you're gonna miss me. Know this: Tori Rodriguez may have died, but I'm still alive. I am stories now, just like I always told you. Know that I can finally live exactly as I always wanted. I just can't live here. You need to let go, but please don't be sad. I love you I really do... but I can't be here anymore, not for me, not for you. I told Caeden goodbye... don't worry about him, he knows that Story Tale will always be with him so long as he never stops loving stories. Give him my Ronald McDonald doll. Give Ruby to a diabetic girl who needs her. Give Angel to someone who needs her too. Do that with all of my animals. Give my clothes away. Sell my art if you want, or keep them. Make sure grandpa's bear stays in the family. Tell dad and Chris I love them. And Mellissa, and Nick, Michael and Richard too. Grandma, Chase, Alyssa... all of them. I took some of my things with me, things I needed to keep. You don't need to have a funeral. Just a memorial for who I was. Make sure to celebrate who I still am. Tell stories, read books, sing songs, watch movies... anything to do with a story, do it, as often as you can. And make sure to have fun while you do it. Smile. I love you mom._

_~Story Tale, your daughter who always was part of a story._

I wiped tears from my eyes as I placed the note on my bed, "Mom" written in metallic green marker so she'd be sure to find it. "I didn't think it'd be this hard." I said to Jack.

"I know."

I took one last look around my room, painted all the colors of the rainbow, filled with a lifetime of trinkets and clutter. I heard my cats scraping on my door and knew that my mom would wake up to let them up to my room. I made sure my light was off before I turned to Jack. "Lets go." We jumped out my window, buoyed by the wind so our landing was soft. Jack flew back up and closed my window. I grabbed my bags as Jack grabbed my suitcase, his staff tucked under his arm. "You don't happen to have an extra room at your place do you?"

"Yeah, crash as long as you need." I'd been joking. His acceptance of me, his willingness to help, made me speechless which is a rare occurrence for me. "My place is kinda cold though. So you might need that jacket of yours."

"South Pole?"

"No, a little farther north actually, but yes, Antarctica." He held out his free hand to me once more. "Shall we?" I reached out and took his hand. The winds lifted us into the air, Jack leading the way. As we flew I managed to forget about my feelings for a moment as I took in the feeling of flight.

After dropping off my things we flew back to Niles, by then the sun was rising. "Three hours 'til the bank opens... what you wanna do?"

"I don't know. You wanna try and figure out what your powers are?"

I turned his trademark wicked grin against him then. "Oh. Yeah."

I ran deeper into the woods we'd landed in, coincidentally, right behind my old high school, and close to one of my friends houses. Jack right on my heels. I found a clearing and stopped in the middle. Brandywine creek was on one side of the clearing, highway visible through the trees on the other side of it. I took a deep breath and lifted my arms. _I am Story Tale. I am stories. I am a story. I am the writer of stories. I can make any story a reality. Anything is possible when you create a story._ I started telling myself a story out loud. "I am Story Tale, a story that was once a girl. Once, stories were everything to me, now they are everything I am. As Story Tale I have wings. They are beautiful, made of thousands of pages from books, of sheet music, of artwork... of stories. The pages gather and form to my back, never falling apart until I am ready." As soon as I was done a swarm of papers, fluttering in a breeze, came towards Jack and I. They did as I'd said. They formed wings that plastered themselves across my back, like a second skin linking the pages to me. I had my eyes closed but saw all this with my imagination. I felt the papers as they molded to my back. Once the rustling of paper had quieted I dared to open my eyes. I glanced over my shoulder and my jaw dropped.

If you'd ever seen Naruto Shippuden, and you'd seen Konan's paper wings, you'd have an idea of what my wings looked like. But only an idea. My wings were made of books from the library, artwork done by the students, and sheet music from the band and choir classrooms... they were amazing. Looking like a collage of colors, music and words. They were huge, at least fifteen feet across. Yet they were light as a feather... or, rather, a piece of paper. In my wildest dreams I'd never imagined my wings to be as incredible as this, and I'd imagined some beautiful wings.

If the look on my face was anything, Jack's face was far more priceless. To say the least, he was stunned. A smile of pure joy grew on my face as I said to him, "Let's see what these can do!" I took off. I soared, higher and higher. Jack zooming beside me, blown along by the wind. Soon the ground was miles below me and I stopped and hovered, Jack did the same. As we smiled at each other his face suddenly became worried.

"Story, what are you thinking?" I said nothing, just kept smiling. "What are you planning?"

"Now you see how others feel when they see a prank on your face." I said as I let the papers go and immediately began to plummet through the air.

"STORY!" Jack's shout rang through the air behind me as I fell. I started laughing as the ground raced towards me. A mile. Two thousand feet. A thousand feet. Eight hundred feet. I began pulling the papers back to me. They re-grouped as I continued to fall. five hundred feet. Four hundred feet. Two hundred feet. Fifty feet. At fifteen feet above the ground I snapped out my wings and soared over the wimpy trees that tried to call themselves "woods".

I dove lower and maneuvered between the trees, flying faster and faster. I tried doing that sideways flight between two trees and clipped my wings against them. My wings shattered and I started falling towards the ground. "There's a pile of pages for me to land on!" Suddenly there was, and my fall was less threatening. I landed on the pile, dead center.

I poked my head out of the pile just as Jack came streaking out of the sky towards me. "What the hell was that!" I shook my head as bits of paper fluttered out of my hair. "What possessed you to decide to just _fall out of the sky_!" I stood up and walked out of the pile, picking out stubborn bits of paper that hadn't come out on their own. "You don't know how your powers work yet, you're just learning, you could have hurt yourself!"

I smiled at him. "If I recall correctly, you flew right when you discovered your powers. And your landing wasn't so spectacular either." I turned to the pile of papers that I'd just exited. "Thank you. You can all go back now." One by one the papers fluttered of to go back into their books or wherever else they were when I'd called them. "I've imagined that fall thousands of times. I've been imagining it for almost as long as I've been waiting for magic. I've been waiting for wings even longer." I was still smiling. "Jack, I just had the time of my life, stop killing my buzz. I thought you were the Guardian of Fun."

"I am, but you forget, I've seen immortals die before... Sandy, to name one. I saw you die last night, I don't wanna see it again in as many days."

I sobered. "I'm sorry..." I smiled again. "But that was pretty amazing for my first solo flight."

"It wasn't bad." I swatted him on the arm and we both chuckled.

"Well, the bank should be opening in a little while, wanna walk there?"

"I think I've had enough of you flying for one day."

I laughed again. Then I sighed. "Shit. I just though of this. How are we gonna get the tellers to see me? I many look acceptably different, but I'm still invisible to people who don't believe in me."

"Don't worry, I have a plan."

We were waiting out front of my bank, which was going to open as soon as they unlocked the doors. "You ready?" Jack asked me. We had to time it right. Jack had to keep blowing some of his special snow over them and I had to keep talking or they wouldn't see me. One of the tellers came and unlocked the doors.

"As I'll ever be." I took a breath and opened the door, Jack following behind me. Jack started an almost imperceptible snowfall over the teller as I walked up to her. "Hello. Are you having a good morning so far?"

She blinked a bit, like she was confused. She looked at me as if she hadn't noticed someone was standing there, which she hadn't. "Oh. Hey, Miss Tori. You're up early."

I'd made it to the counter and was opening up my wallet as I said. "Yeah. I need to make a withdrawal."

"Alright. How much did you need?"

"Everything."

She looked mildly surprised for a moment but did it anyway. There was no reason not to trust me. "I like what you did with your hair, by the way."

I smiled at the compliment. "Thanks... I like it to." She handed me my money and I waved good bye. Jack and I walked out the doors.

I put my money in my wallet as Jack said, "She'll be confused later when they look at the security cameras and don't see anyone there." He was laughing.

"I'm more worried about how people are gonna react when they find my car, but no me... You saw all that blood. The cops are gonna know that I died. There's gonna be a manhunt for me."

"Don't worry about it. It's not like they'll find you."

"I guess..."

"Hey, so. Now that you've severed all ties... where do you wanna go?"

I hesitated. I'd wondered for years, that, if I could go anywhere, where would I go first. I closed my eyes. "I think I'll start close... Lets go to Ellis Island."

Over the next few years I traversed the world. As I went, I learned how to use my powers. I could call any type of story to me, and use it in any way I needed. I also noticed that, whenever I was near someone completely entranced by a story, I was drawn towards them. I'd found myself living the stories I'd always read, for, when I read a story now, it quite literally came to life around me. There were times that I'd find a bruise where the hero had been injured. Every time I came across a musician playing, be it street corner or stage, when I hovered near to listen, they became enraptured by their music. Have you ever seen someone totally engrossed in the song they're playing? It has it's own sort of magic... and trust me, their playing drew crowds.

And with artists. If I went by anyone with a remotely creative bone in their body they instantly dove into creating their story. On whatever was near them. I was in bliss. I was surrounded by stories of every caliber. Just as I'd always been, but these were so much more powerful. I felt my soul lifting and dancing with every story I passed... and they were _everywhere_.

Jack often came by when he was near for any of his winter or Guardian duties. And when we were both in full-on happy-mode... there were nothing but smiles near us. I was making hearts dance within stories and he was making fun chase all fears away. To be completely honest, dozens of Disney songs could have been my soundtrack for those first few years as Story Tale. From _For a Moment,_ to _When will my life begin (Reprise),_ to_ Stories_. I was the happiest I'd ever been.

I'd seen Ellis Island, New Orleans, Egypt, Paris, Rome, Venice, Scotland, Ireland, India, the Great Wall of China, Tokyo, Madagascar, the Grand Canyon, Times Square - on New Years Eve, Machu Pichu, Puerto Rico, the Northern and Southern Lights... everything I'd ever wanted. It was only topped by flying. I flew everywhere. It was almost second nature to call stories into my wings now-a-days. It never got old. Each time they formed into my wings I _felt_ the stories, the emotions behind them. Each time I created my wings they were different, they were usually about the same size and shape, but the stories that made them up were never the same...

As the years passed, I could feel belief in me grow. Even if no one knew that Story Tale was behind it, they still believed in the feeling they got when they experienced a story. I asked Jack, once if this is how he felt all those years when people said it was him that brought winter, but didn't really believe in him. "Sort of. It was kind of like a sour feeling. It was false belief, unknown belief. What you're feeling is ambient belief. Belief in what you are, without knowing why or who. I was the opposite. They knew my name but didn't believe."

By the time six years had passed I'd made my way back to the United States. The fly-over states to be specific. To those who don't know, fly-over states are the states in the middle of the U.S. that are almost nothing but farms and corn-fields for miles. That's where Niles, MI lies. At the edge of the fly-over states. It was summer and I was a few cities over from Niles. Every night for the past week I'd flown to my old house, waiting to go in and see Caeden. Every morning I'd flown off somewhere else, too nervous to go farther than the yard.

Finally I worked up enough nerve to stay past dawn. I waited around until about noon. My mom was off at work, so was Chris, my step-dad. Nick, my younger step-brother had moved out a few years back, so Caeden was home alone. I stayed outside for a little while, peeking in the windows after he woke up. He sat inside all day. At first he watched T.V. but later he started to read a book. I started when I saw what book he was reading. It was _Shaper_, one of the books I'd left behind. It was about a kid who's dog had died and was learning to love a new dog. I looked in at his room and saw all of the other books I'd left behind. They were far more dog eared now than they had been when I'd left. I made the page he was on flutter. Caeden frowned and flipped back to his page and kept reading. I pulled a loose paper towards the window and hat it stick there. Caeden put the book down and went over to the window to pull the page off and put it back.

I pulled the page again. Again, Caeden put it back. This time I pulled multiple pages as well as a picture of the two of us from when he was a baby. He froze, staring at the picture. "Jack? Are you messing with me?" I pricked the end of my finger, and began writing on one of the blank pieces of paper.

_"Hey, bud."_

Caeden balked. "Jack, this isn't funny."

_"It's not Jack... it's me." _I painted an arrow pointing to the picture of him and I. _"It's me, bud."_

He stared at the picture in utter shock. It was of when he was about a year old, I'd put him on my shoulders and was carrying him around. Mom had decided to take a picture. Both of us had huge, goofy smiles. My nose was wrinkled up and he only had one tooth. It was one of my favorite pictures of the two of us... I guess it was one of his favorites too. "Tori?" He didn't sound like the sixteen year old he was, he sounded like the ten year old I'd left behind.

_"Believe I'm here. Believe in Stories... in your sister."_

"Tori? Where are you?"

He looked frantically around his room, trying to find out where I was. I felt a jolt go through me. Almost like adrenaline. _Belief_. I took a breath and said, "Hey, bud. Turn around."

He froze with his back to me. He slowly straightened, eyes still on the opposite wall. "Tori?" He turned around slowly, eyes towards my feet. After turning to face me fully, his eyes started traveling upwards, as I took a few steps towards him. He saw my scuffed boots that I'd treasured - and that he'd stole and worn once round the house. He saw my skinny jeans that I'd worn often. He saw my TMNT shirt that he'd thought was the coolest thing ever the first time he saw it. I stood with my hands on my hips as his eyes found my face, barely different than before, with only my eyes and hair different, even then only a bit. On his face was the expression of desperate hope. The expression I'd had when he'd first told me Jack Frost was outside six and a half years ago.

I smiled at him and said, "Do I get a 'hello'?" He threw himself at me in the tightest hug we'd ever shared. I kissed his forehead, just like I'd always done when we'd had a hello, which was a hug and a kiss.

He was crying into my shoulder as he said, "I missed you." Just like he'd always said when we'd had a hello.

Tears slid out of my eyes as I said, "I missed you too, bud."

We spent the rest of the day catching up. I told him of the adventures I'd had over the past six years and he told me how life had gone here. Turns out, Jack had still come to visit after I'd left. It wasn't as often as before, but he'd come once a month in the winter. Caeden told me about how he was a sophomore now - at my old high school no less. My two favorite teachers were still there, and he'd taken the same art class as me, had my favorite art teacher. He told me that he spent half his time at the library. Even though he had trouble reading the books, he did anyway, the stories were too enticing to him. I couldn't help smiling at that.

You see, Caeden has Achromatopsia, which is a genetic eye issue, where you get bad glare issues, you are sometimes partly colorblind, if not fully, and have slight dyslexia from it. That's why it's hard for him to read. It touched me that he read books even though it was hard. It touched me that he would do it, because I was his sister who always loved stories, _and_ because I was Story Tale.

He told me that Nick had gone off to college and that, after I'd left, Mom had gotten a new job, one where she could spend more time with him. So had Chris. They still had to work most days, but they had every weekend off and a lot more sick days now. He said there was a scholarship now, in honor of me. It was for any Brandywine student that showed a true love of stories, as I always had. It wasn't a full ride, just a few hundred dollars, just enough to cover supplies. It was only about three years old, my classmates, the ones that had graduated with me had set it up. They actually held fundraisers at local libraries to fund it.

I thought it was odd they'd do a scholarship for me, I wasn't the first to die in my graduating class, but I was the second. I hadn't been that popular when I was at school, and it was a small school. I'd actually had more friends among the staff than among my peers. It's not sad. I actually preferred it that way, too many of my classmates were drama-filled children that I honestly found a waste of my time. That's why I befriended the staff. He said that "beer ghost", a character from humon's Scandinavia and the world comics, which I'd been obsessed with, and had drawn on nearly every board at school when I'd been there, made regular occurrences too.

It turns out, my mom had taken it the hardest. She hadn't spoken to my dad since I'd left, or to any of his family. She'd kept each and every one of my former pieces of art, be it a drawing, a card, of a piece of writing, she'd kept it all. She'd given away all my stuffed animals but one, a wolf pup I'd gotten on one of our vacations that I'd named Silky. I'd bedazzled it's ears to give it earrings. I'd loved that dog when I'd first gotten it, but over the years, I'd grown away from it. It did, however, remind me of all the vacations we'd taken. It turns out she kept a few of the little trinket's I'd cherished at some point too, a crown my grandma had gotten me at a renaissance fair, a pair of costume wings I'd worn one year for Halloween, and my last Halloween costume, Cheshire from Young Justice that I'd made from scratch.

Before I knew it, 6:00pm had rolled around, and my mom was due home at any minute. Caeden noticed the time before I did. "Crap, it's six!" I looked at him surprised, I'd _never_ heard my brother cuss before. He noticed my reaction and said, "Tori, I'm sixteen now. Don't be so surprised."

"Yeah, yeah, okay. But you're still my baby brother, just because you're old enough, doesn't mean you should cuss. And just because I do, doesn't mean you can around me."

He smiled. "Okay." He kept smiling at me.

"What?"

"I missed that. You chastising me."

I put him in a mock choke-hold as I said. "Glad to hear it!" He struggled and I finally let him go, both of us laughing like we used to. Then I sighed. "I guess I'll get going."

"Wait!" He paused. "Don't you wanna see mom?"

"Caeden, I can't. She won't be able to see me... and... I'm not Tori anymore. I'm Story. Six years have passed, and I'm still nineteen, even if I feel twenty-six. The only reason I could talk to you is because you're still a kid. And because you were, honestly my favorite. You were my _brother_, the real one. And not because you were the only one related to me by blood. You're my brother because of how we feel towards each other. You think I could have done that with Nick?" I bumped shoulders with him. "You and I were close."

We sat for a moment before he said, "Do you _have_ to go? Can't you stay the night, or something?"

"Wouldn't it be weird, you being the only one who can see me?"

"No, we could just watch movies or something in my room. Or even better, _your_ room."

"Huh?"

He got up. "Come see." He led me up to what used to be my room. As I turned around off the landing I gaped. The walls were still the same colors they'd been the last time I saw them, even the pink. The wall my closet used to occupy was now covered with shelves that held books, movies and games galore. My old bed, a futon, was still there, and there were two more chairs and a bean-bag chair on the floor clustered around a T.V. way bigger than the one I'd had. All my old trinkets were gone, as were most of the rest of my things, but I could see that my family hadn't tried to completely erase me. "This is my game room. Whenever I have friends over, we play games up here. Same with movies. I also keep a lot of my books up here too, cause, you know, my shelves are _way_ too small. All the movies are up here now."

"Whoa."

He looked at me, suddenly nervous. "You don't mind, do you?"

"Of course not. It's not my room anymore."

As I sat down on my old bed Caeden said, "Alright, so we cam watch movies here, and, tonight, you can sleep here."

I laughed. "You're treating me like a guest."

"Am not!" Though we laughed, inside I realized that I was. I was a guest in my own house. _It's not my house anymore. I'm not the girl who used to live here._

"What movie you wanna watch?"

"Hmm... How about Sinbad?"

I smiled. Caeden had picked one of my old favorites. As far as movies went, Caeden and I had always watched a handful of the same movies over and over. Sinbad was one of them, along with Treasure Planet, Road to Eldorado, Quest for Camelot and any good Disney or Pixar movie. "Works for me. I haven't seen that since I left."

He looked at me, surprised, as he put the movie in. "Really? Mom and I watch it all the time. And the other movies you and I used to watch..." He sat down next to me as the previews started up.

As the movie, itself started, I said the lines as Eris did. She always _had_ been my favorite villain. "_Wake up, my beauties. Rise and Shine. It's a brand new day and the mortal world is at peace... but not for long. Just look at them. I pull one tiny thread and their whole world unravels into chaos... Glorious Chaos..._" I'd always loved Eris' monologues. Even after six years I still knew them by heart.

Caeden smiled next to me. "Movies have been quiet since you left... I missed that too."

My smile was a rueful as his.

After Sinbad we'd watched ParaNorman and then Treasure Planet. My favorite scene in Treasure Planet had always been when Jim is on his solar surfer in the beginning and dives, pulling out right before he hits bottom... what I'd always dreamed of. Prior to dying I'd always had mixed feelings about that scene. Whenever I'd watched it, I'd felt my soul lift, and the fifteen second scene seemed to last hours. Aside from my soul lifting I'd felt euphoria and longing and, when the scene ended, I'd felt a sense of bitterness. Knowing that the scene was the closest I'd ever get to that fall... But I'd lived it now. This time, the scene brought a smile to my face, as I remembered my own fall. This time there was no bitterness, no longing. Only the assurance that I could recreate my fall anytime I wanted.

It was about two in the morning by the time the movie ended and Caeden had fallen asleep near the end of Treasure Planet. The part where Silver and Jim part ways hit me differently now. Now this was the scene that brought longing and bitterness. I felt like Silver. I couldn't stay, I knew that. I didn't belong to Niles anymore. Even if there was someone I cared about that I was leaving behind. I knew that, this time, Caeden wouldn't feel like I'd vanished... this time, he'd know I was there, no matter if I wasn't around physically.

A snore erupted from my brother, who was slumped across the opposite side of the futon, head against the wall. I smiled as I put a pillow under his head and walked over to the window. Quietly, so I wouldn't wake him, I said, "I'll see you later, bud." I opened the window and jumped out, making sure the window closed with a note for Caeden stuck in the opening. I gathered my wings and flew south and west. I spent the night on the Gateway Arch, a place I'd visited once while alive.

The next morning at about 9:30, a paper airplane found me atop the Arch. About a year ago I discovered I could send messages. By writing the message out on paper and folding it into an airplane, I could launch it and it would find whoever the message was for. I'd told Caeden in the note I'd left that if he did the same, the plane would find me. His note read: _Mom's gone, so is dad. Come by whenever._

I crumpled the note and jumped off the Arch, wings fluttering together as I fell. I was about halfway down the Arch by the time I made my first down-stroke. It took me about thirty minutes to make it back to Niles, and that wasn't even my top speed. I alighted on the roof of my old house, right above my old bedroom. I slid in through the window I'd left the night before. Windows were a lot more low-key when you're immortal.

I drifted down the stairs, lightly hopping off the top step and landing lighter than a feather on the bottom one. I took a few steps around the corner to see where Caeden was and saw him in the kitchen, making himself a bowl of cereal. He turned and saw me, nearly dropping his bowl in surprise. "Tori! I liked it a lot more when you made noise."

I laughed and said, "Yeah, well... I'm a bit different now, you know."

He snorted. "That's an understatement." He gestured to the pantry and asked, "Are you hungry?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm good." He paused and stared at me open mouthed. "What?"

"You're always hungry. I've never heard you turn down food in my life."

I chuckled. "I don't _need_ to eat that much anymore, bud. Ergo, I'm not usually hungry. The last few years, I've only eaten when something was too good to pass up... Cereal just doesn't fit the bill."

"Okay, now, that's weird."

"I'm immortal, my blood is now ink, I can fly... and you think it's weird that I'm not hungry all the time?" I laughed.

"Ha, ha," he said mockingly. He took another bite of cereal. "So, what do you wanna do?"

"We're on your time, you choose." I sat down on the chairs that were still there from when I was alive.

"Can, I ask you a few things?"

"Shoot."

He finished his cereal before he started in on the questions. Putting his bowl in the sink, he turned to me and said, "I know you've been traveling, but... What _are_ you now? I mean, immortals, at least legend immortals, all have something they're the legend of. Jack's the spirit of winter, so he doesn't really count, but North's Santa Clause, Tooth's the tooth fairy, etc... You told me that you were Story, but what does that mean?"

"Well, I'm Story Tale. I am stories. I'm the feeling when you're really into a story, weather you're creating it or just experiencing it. I can control existing stories too. That's how I can fly."

"Did you take over for anyone? Was there another Story Tale before you?"

I took a breath to answer... and then paused. "I don't know."

"Why did the Man in the Moon bring you back? Not-that-I'm-ungrateful-or-anything!"

I giggled at his rushed second sentence. "Because Jack asked him to. Well - more like he yelled at him and had to convince him but, still... I think he would have brought me back anyway. I mean, it's high time that there was a legend immortal for stories."

Caeden looked stunned. "Jack... Jack asked him to bring you back? Why - why did he do that?"

"Well... What he told Tsar Lunar was that I deserved it. That I didn't deserve to die before doing one tenth of what I was capable of... But, that's what he said. I don't know if that's really why or if that's just what he told Many to try and convince him. I don't know if that's why Many brought me back, either." Serious moments weren't what I was used to with my baby brother... but he wasn't a baby anymore. "I feel like I'm doing what I was meant to do. I feel like, as Story Tale... I'm finally... _alive_."

After a few moments of silence following my last statement, Caeden spoke up again. "So, have you met any other immortals?"

"Yep."

"Who?"

"Jack Frost." He gave me the same look he'd given me the first day we met Jack, when I'd said Santa and then North. The I'm-not-stupid look. I laughed. "Sorry, I couldn't resist. No, other than Jack I haven't met any others yet. It's only been six years..." As I said that last sentence, I realized just now much I'd changed, how quickly accepted being immortal. I used to freak out about how long I'd been alive. On my nineteenth birthday I looked at my friend and said, "Do you realize we're gonna be twenty next year... _two decades_ old. We've been on this planet for two decades. That's a long time!" And yet, now, I was writing off six years as if it were nothing.

"But I thought there were a lot of you guys?"

"There are, at least, from what Jack's told me. Most of them stay within their own pockets of believers. I don't really blame them, they're protecting themselves. As far as I can tell, only a few dozen of us actually travel. Sandy, Tooth, me, the seasonal immortals, Jack of course, and a few others that have mostly ambient belief."

"What's ambient belief?"

"Ambient belief is where people believe in what you are, or your legend, without believing in _you_."

"Does that mean... you have ambient belief?"

"Yep."

He was confused by my nonchalant tone. "That doesn't bother you? That no one believes in you? It drove Jack crazy."

"It's different, with me. People knew Jack name, but didn't believe in him, like when adults say that Santa brought presents, but don't believe what they're saying. People believe in the feeling they get when they're in stories, even if they don't realize it. I don't mind that no one knows my name. Besides, I have you and Jack to talk to if I get lonely."


	3. Homeward Bound

After a whole week straight of hanging out with my little bro, I could feel my veins itching to leave. As much as I loved hanging out with Caeden... I couldn't stay in Niles. So I said my good byes and flew south for a change of scenery. As the weather grew colder and the air thinner I like I was coming home after a vacation.

It was strange that Niles didn't feel like home anymore. But, it was what it was. I found that, I didn't mind the cold. As a mortal, I'd preferred warmth. As an immortal, it didn't matter the weather, just so long as it felt right. Soon I was passing the edge of the glaciers surrounding and smothering Antarctica. Minutes later I dissipated my wings and dropped through a hole leading down through the ice. I landed in a chamber not unlike an entryway. I shivered a bit, I may not mind cold anymore, but it was still _cold_. At the warmest, it was sub zero. It was not at it's warmest.

Hanging on a rack along the wall was my green jacket. I grabbed it and put it on, heading deeper into the ice. Patterns were carved into the floor that looked like frost and snowflakes. The walls had a subtle glow, the ice seemed to be lit from behind. For all I knew it was. Off of the entryway there were three hallways. The first led to rooms that were either empty or bedrooms. I wasn't Jacks only roommate, but I'll get into that in a little bit. The second led to other "house" type rooms. Kitchen, living room, office spaces, etc. The last led to miscellaneous rooms. Jack had a room that was nothing but a giant hole up to the surface, which he usually came and went through. There were one or two rooms that, according to Jack, had changed over the years, as his different roommates had used them for their purposes. There were also rooms that were dedicated to fun of every type. Arenas for sports, a built in ice rink - that wasn't just the regular floor - and a few other rooms of the like, including one room that had snow eternally falling, with a layer of about two feet of snow year round for snowball fights. And, of course... there was Jack's globe. He'd created his globe after being sworn in as a Guardian. It was carved ice - big surprise - and the lights on it reminded me of a cross between Christmas lights covered in snow, and candle light.

I went to my room, changing my clothes as I'd worn my current ones for a few months and I was bored of them. Even though I'd traveled for the majority of the past six years, I'd still kept a room at the "Sanctuary of the Spirit of Winter" or as we called it "Jack's place." I hadn't managed to create my own home yet, and Jack's offer was still standing. Now dressed in another pair of jeans, a flannel button up over a plain white tank-top and my knock-off Toms, I hug my previous outfit back up in my carved ice closet. As an immortal, my clothes didn't get dirty unless I got into a fight with someone... or splattered them with ink. I'd ruined one of my shirts that way. I had it framed on my wall now, it was a bit of an inside joke between all of us.

I went to my bed took a short nap, which meant a day of sleep. When I woke up the first thing I noticed was my mini-globe off on the side of my room. I'd taken the idea of having a globe of believers from Jack and the other Guardians. Hell, even Pitch had one. Mine didn't have any lights on it, but rather glowed softly in general, with different areas glowing brighter every once in a while. The effect was of a pulsating orb, like a heart beat. My globe might not have twinkled, but it was alive.

I sat up and stretched. I waltzed out of my room, taking a set of stairs to a high hallway. Jack had made almost a complete circle around what would be the second floor of the sanctuary, connecting all the hallways so that we didn't have to go through the entryway each time we wanted to go to a different wing. I walked along and soon the right side of the passageway opened up. There was a railing made of ice on the side open, but beyond that was one of my favorite rooms here.

The library. I gave up walking to the stairway and instead jumped over the railing and landed, cat-like, in one of the armchairs. Not everything here was sculpted in ice. The bookshelves were made of wood, there were lazy-boys all over, the kitchen had real appliances - run with magic of course - and there were rugs strewn here and there, for those of us that weren't the Spirit of Winter. I pulled a book to me that I had noticed was new, and began reading. It was a good story. However, when a dragon decided to breathe fire I had to close the book otherwise I'd have melted the wall behind me. I decided to go back to one of my old favorites, one of the ones I'd brought.

My books had their own shelf. I climbed up the shelves, like the spider-monkey I'd always been. I pulled out _Holes_. It always made me feel warmer when I read it in the sanctuary, as it took place in a desert, and I was in a tundra. As I was part way through it one of my other roommates walked in.

I hadn't ben totally truthful with Caeden when I'd said I hadn't met any immortals besides Jack. I'd met three others. My two other roommates. They lived here for the same reason as me, they didn't have an official home. They were roamers like me. Jack was a nice enough guy to let roamers stay if we really needed a place. All the others were either intolerant to cold or too stubborn to "stoop to living with a hooligan like Jack Frost." The longest staying of my roommates was almost a permanent addition to the sanctuary. She'd been here long before Jack was brought back as Jack Frost. She was a Lillend. Lillends are fiercely protective of the wilderness they consider home, and she'd decided that the entirety of Antarctica was her home. So she stayed after Jack set up his place.

Her name was Selie, and we had become instant friends. Lillends are great lovers of art and stories. They'd prefer a story as payment for something over gold. The fact that I was, literally, stories had instantly forged a friendship between us. Selie was beautiful, as her race commonly is. Lillends look like beautiful females from the waist up, from the waist down are brightly colored snakes, and have brilliant wings like a birds'. Selie's tail was a gradation from white where it met skin all the way to the deepest midnight blue where her tail ended twenty feet away. Her wings were not unlike a snowy owl's. I'd taken to calling her Hedwig in a playful way when we were joking with one another.

Selie smiled at me, throwing her wings out and railing the end of her tail. Arms wide she called to me. "Story! I thought you were home!" I got up and ran into her offered hug. Selie rarely left the sanctuary, and was always glad to see me, one of the reasons I loved her so much, and she me.

"Hey, Sel. Are Del and Korri home?" I didn't ask about Jack, for, whenever _he_ was home, snow fell in nearly every room in the sanctuary. As of that moment, there was no snow aside from the previously mentioned room.

"Korrigan is gone right now, but Ara Del'Ket should be here. I believe he said something about being hungry earlier." Selie always used Del's full name when referring to him if he wasn't in the room.

"Del's always hungry. But, hey, when you're a dragon..."

She chuckled as she coiled her tail and perched on top of it, like it was a bean-bag chair. I sat back down in the armchair I'd vacated upon her arrival. "So, where did you run off to this past month? I've been looking forward to the story almost since you left."

I laughed and told her about the first two weeks, where I'd basically spent completely in the Redwood forests and generally doing a Maximum Ride impression. "The second two weeks I... I went to see my brother."

"Caeden?" She sat up. I hadn't told any of them that I was going to visit. "Why didn't you tell us?"

I sighed. "Because I didn't plan it. I realized I'd gotten close to Niles and, suddenly, I couldn't shake the thought from my head. If I'd waited much longer, he wouldn't have been able to see me. If he'd passed through me..." I closed my eyes and took a breath. "I'm just glad that I got to see him." I smiled at her. "He's so grown up now... a lot's changed since I left."

She unraveled the bottom most coil and used the tip of her tail to lightly tap my arm. It was one of her ways of comforting people she liked. I smiled at the gesture. She said, "Lets go see if Del's left anything for us, shall we?"

"I could go for some hot chocolate." I stood up and walked over to the door Selie had come through. Selie glided along next to me as I walked with my hands in my pockets. Her wings were tucked in against her back at the moment so they wouldn't scrape along the sides of the tunnel. "So, where's Korri off to?"

"I believe she went to visit some friends in Scandinavia. The Rusalki if I am not mistaken."

I snorted. "They'll probably spend the whole time dancing around fountains and combing each other's hair."

"No doubt." She agreed. Korri was our newest edition. She was older than me, about ten - that's immortal years. She'd been human like me. Her name was Carolyn before she died. She'd been one of those vain, Barbie-girls who care more about shopping than anything. She'd died right about when the old Korrigan legend had drifted. Many had brought her back as the replacement. Korri looked to be about twenty two, had long blonde hair and red eyes. Honestly, I think Many brought her back, only because she's as shallow as the myths about the previous Korrigan were. I didn't have anything against her though, she was like that cousin that you have to love even if you'd like to punch them for their stupidity. She'd taken a room about three years back.

We made it to the kitchen and I could hear Del scarfing whatever he'd decided to have for lunch. Selie burst out, "Del'Ket you are making a mess! I am _not_ cleaning that up!" I chuckled from the doorway where I'd leaned against the frame. Del was off in the large area Jack had created once Del had moved in. It was easily large enough to hold all of us as well as any guests we may have, Jack had made sure of that once he'd become a Guardian.

"Nice to see you again, Morning Breath." Del was a dragon, just not like I'd always thought a dragon would be. He was a pushover and gullible and whined a lot. He acted like a mix of a puppy and a kitten, especially when he was upset. He was small for a dragon, tough he was still huge. Hid scales were a deep forest green and his eyes were nearly white. I'd only ever seen him mad once when Korri had brought home a "pet" that turned out to be a boggart in disguise. _That's_ what I'd always thought a dragon would be like.

He swallowed whatever was in his mouth and smiled his toothy grin. "Story! When did you get back!" His deep rumble filled the kitchen with the feeling of home. I rolled my eyes as I moved into the room.

Selie swatted him as she said, "She's been home almost a full day, you over grown lizard!"

He looked at her dejected. "Hey, that wasn't very nice. I am not a lizard. I'm a dragon!"

It was Selie's turn to snort. "Not much of one."

I smiled as I shook my head. _Good to be home._

The past six years, I'd spend most of the time traveling, but every three months or so, I'd come back to the sanctuary for a rest. I'd first met Selie when Jack and I had dropped off my stuff that first night. She'd come roaring out of the "front door", the whole in the roof of the entryway, straight at me. Screaming that I was an intruder. Selie's the other reason that a lot of immortals don't want to stay at the sanctuary. Instinctively I'd made a wall, albeit a flimsy one, out of the pages of my books. That'd been my first indication that I could control stories.

Of course, using stories as a shield was the perfect way of stopping Selie from ripping my head off. Being a Lillend, she would never destroy a story. She saw the pages and instantly got lost in reading the words printed on the pages. I slowly lowered my wall, once I'd realized that I wasn't in danger anymore. Selie looked at Jack and asked, indignantly might I add, "Who is this?"

"This is Story Tale, she's a new immortal and our new roommate."

At the mention of my name Selie had perked up. "What are you? You were obviously once human. Legend? I can tell by your name you're not a seasonal."

"I'm stories."

A wide smile had carved itself across her face at my response. "You and I are going to get along well." She held out her hand. "I am Selie. I apologize for my earlier behavior, we Lillends are notoriously protective of our homes."

Jack looked at me and elaborated. "Sel's lived here longer than me. She's - what - sixte-"

"Don't you dare speak my age Jack Frost!"

He laughed. "Well, lets just say that she was here long before most of the other immortals I know have been around. When I moved in she gave me the same warm reception she gave you."

"And I have since apologized. I did not know you were the Spirit of Winter when you first came here." She looked at me again. "I am sorry about how vicious I may have seemed. Ever since Kozmotis got through last year I've been on edge. It felt like I had fleas when he was here." She shivered at the memory.

"You called him Kozmotis, not Pitch?"

She smiled at me kindly. "I remember a time when he _was_ Kozmotis. And Seraphina and I are friends. I will not refer to Kozmotis as anything else."

It was the second time I'd come to the sanctuary that I met Del. I was wandering around the sanctuary on the upper walkway. It opened up on one side to each of the rooms that were more than one story in height. And many of then were to accommodate Del's size. I'd come to an opening that looked down on one of the fun rooms, this one was an open space with stalactites and stalagmites made of ice that were huge. As big as trees. There were some that had formed together to create columns. I'd found out later that this room was mainly to practice flying.

My jaw was hanging open as I stared at the room easily bigger than five football fields. I saw Selie flying around and between some of the protrusions. I was about to call to her when a giant green lizard flew right past me... and right towards Selie. Del was so big I could have easily stood straight in his mouth, and yet he was small for a dragon. Selie circled around and started sparring with Del in mid air. Though at the time I hadn't known they were sparring. I thought Del was attacking Selie.

I threw myself out of the opening calling my wings and flew to aide Selie. I sent a rush of pages at Del. They covered his eyes and prevented him from seeing. "Sel! Are you ok?" I called as I finally made my way over to her... only to see she was laughing so hard she had to hold her abdomen. Del was pawing at his face, trying to get the papers to release him.

Through gasps of laughter, Sel managed to sputter, "Let - let him go, Story. He's fine." She dissolved back into laughter as I skeptically let the paper go.

Del froze and blinked as he tried to figure out if he was going to be attacked again... and by whom. He looked at me and nearly whined, "Who are you?"

My eyes were wide with surprise, but my brows were scrunched together in confusion. "Uh..."

Sel managed to stop laughing enough to do the introductions. "Del, this is Story Tale. She is the new immortal I was telling you about. Story, this is Ara Del'Ket, one of our roommates."

"Oh." I said as I began to feel very embarrassed.

Sel clapped me on the shoulder as she said, "That was one of the funniest things I've seen in years! Del'Ket the expression on your face was priceless!"

Dal pouted as he said, "Why did you attack me? It's hard enough fighting off the harpie over here." Sel was laughing to hard to take offense at being called a harpie, which she usually despised. Cal her anything other than what she was, and you better hope you have a good defense or that she _really_ likes you.

"I'm sorry, Del'Ket. I, uh... I thought you were attacking her." I shrugged in that what-can-I-do way.

"Ha!" Selie had mostly gotten over her fit of giggles by now. "As if that over grown lizard would ever willingly attack me."

"I'm not a lizard!" He looked at me and smiled. "You can call me Del. My name's a bit of a mouthful. Even if Sel over here insists on saying it, doesn't mean you have to."

I smiled back. "If you don't mind my asking, what is a dragon doing in Antarctica?"

Selie smiled over at me as Del buried his head in his paws and groaned, "Here we go."

"Del'Ket is a runt. He is smaller than most dragons, save hatchlings. And he is the only dragon I've met incapable of breathing fire."

Del mumbled from beneath his paws, "Dragons always have eyes some shade of red, orange or yellow, the colors of fire. Mine are white because I can't breathe fire. I've tried from the day I hatched! No one respects a dragon who can't breathe fire!"

"Well," I said, "You're the first dragon I've ever met. You seem pretty impressive to me."

Del looked at me shocked. Sel said, "Del'Ket may be a fire-less dragon, but he is every bit as ferocious as his kin... when he want's to be."

Del pointed a claw at her as he said, "I resent that."

But that was almost six years ago. Selie and Del were still like a bickering married couple towards each other. Del was as much a pet as he was a roommate. Sel was as much the sister I'd never had as she was a replacement for the best friend I'd left behind. She mothered all of us, which wasn't a big shocker seeing as she out-ranked us age wise. Jack was like our landlord and fellow tenant at the same time. Korri came and went as she pleased. One minute she was here, the next she was gone. Usually without notice. But, hey, as far as I'd noticed, she wasn't much different before she'd died. I more or less went on a "vacation" nonstop, came back in somewhere between one month and three, and then stayed for somewhere between a week and a month.

I'd been back for five days when Jack came home. It was still summer up north, which meant it was winter down here. Hack was at his busiest when Northern winter was in full swing, but, when the south got chilly, Jack actually had time to relax. The colder regions below the equator were far less densely populated than their northern counterparts. Which meant Jack could let winter do most of it's work on it's own, with him running out to cause avalanches for a few weeks and then staying at the sanctuary the rest of the time. Of course he ran out to spread fun around at least every two days regardless of the season.

I was in the kitchen with Del. He didn't often leave the kitchen as it was. Usually only to go out hunting. There was a reason that Leopard Seals hadn't eaten all the penguins yet, and that was that Del thought their spots made the seals yummier. I was reading the book I'd had to stop reading earlier in the week. Though Del was flame-less, he could still swallow fire, so, when the dragon in my book let loose, Del opened up. Every one of my stories with warm projectiles coming out of them I always read around Del for this very reason. I was about halfway through the book when snow started softly falling from the ceiling.

Del looked up from his after lunch snack and mused, "Jack's back."

I looked up as well. "Looks like it." I turned back to my book. "Hell find us if he wants us." Though Jack didn't mind being sought out, especially if it was for a game, he often took a nap after coming back from a business trip. And he was often busy with Guardian duties, though not always. I preferred to not interrupt something important, I'd rather let others find me if they needed me. Besides, I had no reason to go running to see Jack the second he got home.

A few hours later I'd finished my book and I sat with my eyes closed and the book resting in my lap. Ever since I'd become Story Tale, whenever I read a book completely through in one sitting - or came to the ending of a particularly powerful story - I'd found that the story continued around me. About a year ago I'd started ending my books this way, with my eyes closed. Eventually the story ceased and, once the only things I saw were the backs of my eyelids, I'd open my eyes. With music I'd end up humming the song until a new one was heard by my ears.

Del had fallen asleep after his meal and was snoring, softly for him, but still loud enough to make the rood rumble slightly. I opened my eyes and blinked a few times, shaking the last remnants of the story from me. I stood up and walked to the doorway. I strolled down the hall towards the library. I entered the shelf lined room and started climbing the shelves, looking for the place the book had previously been. There were no ladders to scale the shelves. Del was tall enough to reach any book he needed. Selie could either stand tall on her tail or fly up to the book she wanted. Jack would either send wind to get it for him or would ride the wind up to get it himself. I could have flown, but there was a good chance I'd pull the pages from whatever book I was looking for. I couldn't pick and choose what stories made my wings yet. I could have also sent the story back to it's place without any movement on my part.

However, just as Jack preferred being carried by the wind, I preferred climbing the shelves. When I was alive, there was one sport only that I'd ever actually loved, and it was technically an extreme sport. Rock Climbing. I'd even taken it as my gym class in college. There was actually a rock wall in the sanctuary, which I had been happy to discover. I had always been a good climber, growing up surrounded by trees will do that to you. There was one time, my mom was helping out at the craft fair at Caeden's school, and they needed more pans from the storage room. There were about three shelves, but they were deep, and stuff was piled in front of most of them. I'd climbed up on one of the lower shelves and spider-monkeyed around to find them.

I found the empty space and pushed the book back in. I jumped free of the shelves and landed quietly, a skill I'd learned back when I was alive, but that was much more effective now. Jack was standing near the middle of the room staring at me with his half grin. "What?" I said as I stood up.

He shrugged. "Nothing."

I rolled my eyes at him as I fwomped into one of the armchairs. "No nap?"

He shook his head and shrugged as he sat in another of the chairs, leaning his staff against the nearby table. "Not too tired right now. I might take one later." He gestured to the book I'd put back. "Good read?"

I smiled at him somewhat sarcastically. "You know it was." Jack read every book in the library. He'd been collecting the books longer than I'd been alive. He was almost always the first to read a book - unless _I_ was the one who brought it back. "However, I had to wait to finish it 'til I was around Del."

He winced. "Oh, yeah, forgot about the dragon."

"Yeah."

"So, how was your last trip?"

I relayed the same information to him as I had to Sel about the redwoods, then I said. "I also went to Niles."

"And?"

I smiled, staring at the floor as the scene replayed in my mind. "Caeden saw me." I continued to smile for a few moments before I frowned and hit Jack on the arm. "Why didn't you tell me you kept visiting him!"

He held his arms up in surrender. "Easy! I wasn't gonna leave him high and dry, besides, after you left, he needed some fun to cheer him up."

"Did you tell him to read?"

Jack smiled wryly. "Nope, he did that on his own."

I smiled at the ground again. "So, how's it going with the other Guardians?"

Jack laughed. "Those shut-in's need to interact with kids more. I've gotten Tooth back out 'in the field' as she calls it. Sandy's letting one or two kids a night see the sand before it knock's 'em out. Aster's still stuck up about it though."

"What about North?"

Jack laughed again, a tad more evilly. "North's been switching places with some store Santa's the last few years. The yeti's have been giving them the same welcome they gave me - only these guys don't get to be let out of the bag."

I laughed along with him at the thought. "I really want to meet them... I'm surprised I haven't met Sandy yet."

"Well, you're gonna meet them sooner than you think." I looked at him confused as he stood up. Grabbing his staff he said, "The next annual meeting is being held here. Last year we decided that we were gonna take turns with the location, and I volunteered to go first. I already told Sel about it. Tell Del when he wakes up for me." He stretched and yawned as he walked towards the doorway. "_Now_ I feel like a nap. See ya."

"See ya." I said absently.

My mind was spinning. The Guardians were coming here. To the sanctuary. Where I lived. I got up and walked back to the kitchen. I made myself a cup of hot chocolate as I waited for Del to wake up. Almost an hour later he finally did. He smiled at me sleepily. "Finish your book?"

"Yeah." I paused, waiting 'til he was fully awake. "Jack found me in the library -" Del snorted and I gave him a chastising look before continuing. "He said that the other Guardians decided that they were gonna trade off for the meetings. Each year is gonna be at a different Guardian's place. They're coming here this year."

Del arched his back - not unlike a cat - as he said. "Did he say when the meeting was going to be?"

"No, he'll probably tell up when he wakes up tomorrow."

I was in my room, drawing, when Jack woke up. It was a drawing of one of my characters. Even though, I'd first thought up the first of them over thirteen years ago, I'd never given up working on them, even when I'd died. I'd actually gotten more and more in-depth on their ref sheets as the years passed. I was really into the drawing when I had to stop because she almost literally came to life. I'd done that once - not gonna make that mistake again. That was the last time I drew in the realism style.

I put my supplies back in their wooden trunk, to protect them from the cold and from the snow that fell when Jack was home. I stood up and stretched, my arms reaching towards my ceiling. I picked up my iPod and put my ear-buds in. Now that I had control over stories, my iPod never messed up. It had a notorious habit of working one minute, and the next it wouldn't flip through songs, it wouldn't change in volume, it wouldn't pause... nothing. I had the 3rd generation Shuffle, the one that looks like a flash-drive. It went out of style years ago, and I'd changed the songs on it multiple times. I'd also bypassed the 2gig-ness of it, and, with my powers of course, had thousands of sings now. It was easier. I still had to plug it in to charge it though. I did that when I was travelling, I'd find some library and plug it into the computer, just long enough for it to fully charge.

Instrumental music drifted out of the speakers and a smile grew on my pace. I clipped the I-Pod itself to my waistband - I was in sweats - and walked out into the hallway. I was planning on going to the rock-wall, but on my way over, ran into Jack. I pulled one of the ear buds from my ear as I said, "Oh, hey. I was just heading to the rock-wall, wanna come?"

He shrugged and swung his staff across his shoulders, hanging his arms over it. "Sure."

We walked at a leisurely pace through the main hallways, as opposed to the upper one. As we passed through the entryway I could faintly hear Selie yelling at Del for making a mess with his mid-morning-snack. Jack and I both chuckled at this. "Those two have been like an old married couple for as long as I can remember." He said.

"So, true." We were both still laughing as we walked down the miscellaneous hallway and heard Del's usual protest that he was not a lizard but a dragon. "Hey," I said when we'd stopped laughing. "When's the meeting?"

"Hmm?"

"The Guardians. When the meeting?"

"Oh, it's Friday."

"_This_ Friday?"

"Yep."

"Dude, that's in two days."

"Yep," He said again. I rolled my eyes in mock annoyance, even as a smile crept across my face.

The rock-wall was the only room in the sanctuary that had _actual_ rock in it. The sanctuary itself was near Valkyrie Dome, and the rock wall was where the sanctuary met the mountain. One complete wall of the room was a nearly sheer cliff-face. Two of the other walls held jagged spikes of ice and crevasses where we could climb as well, which Jack had fashioned. I opted for the actual rock while Jack headed to the wall cornering mine. He looked towards me and said, "Race?"

I stared up the wall in front of me. "No powers, unless we fall."

"Deal."

"3... 2... 1!" We both jumped onto the wall in front of us. I wasn't wearing any climbing gear, hadn't needed it in years. I found the crevasses, the handholds and footholds, and my body fell into a rhythm almost as natural to me as breathing. I'd always preferred the holds that jutted out, the ones called beaks and the ones called bowls. I also loved when there was a crevasse big enough to lay my arm across... though I didn't use those during a race. I swung, one-handed half of the time from hold to hold, leaping, doing dynos. All but flying my way up the wall. With the speed I was going I barely felt gravity. I used my momentum as often as strength to pull myself ever higher.

One of the reasons I'd always loved climbing, on non-repetitive surfaces anyway, was that, it was like a giant puzzle, that I was actively trying to solve. I'd have to put my hand on that hold, so my foot could go on that hold, so I could reach that hold later. When you climb you have to see the route before you start, and you have to use your mind as much as your body to get to the top. There had been times where I'd be halfway up the wall and I'd just stop and stare at what was left, trying to beat the puzzle.

I didn't even look up to see what was left to go, nor did I look down to see how far I'd come. I simply saw the holds around me that almost lit up, the way my mind worked. I could vaguely feel Jack near me on the other wall, matching my pace. I'd never been quite brazen enough to dyno when I'd been mortal, but now, I did it often. I knew that, if I fell, I could save myself, and if I happened to be a tad late, I'd only be bruised, not dead. Being immortal tends to make you a bit reckless. Well, tended to make _me_ a bit reckless. The others had chastised me about if a few times over the years.

I'll get back to that later though, right now, I was in a race with the Guardian of Fun... and I wasn't about to loose. I kicked it into high gear as the top of the wall drew near. Tunnel vision, I'd guess you'd call it. That's what I got the last ten feet or so to the top. All I saw were the last few holds I'd need, how I needed to use them and the ledge that ran along the top of all of the walls. _Right hand there, foot here... There, two holds left... _ "Yes!" I topped out on the ledge.

I sat down swinging my legs over the edge and looked over at the other wall... where Jack was already sitting. "UGH!" I laid down on the ledge in exasperation. Jack's laughter wafted over to me. Still laying down I said, "How... do you _always_ beat me?"

Through his laughter, he said, "You get too into it. You get tunnel vision and you get too caught up in the puzzle. I'm just having fun."

I sighed, and sat back up. I turned around and climbed over to hold onto the top of the wall. I carefully climbed down until the ledge was a few feet over my head. The rock room was easily five stories high, that's one of the reasons I loved it so much, nearly endless climbing. Holding on to my handholds tightly, I pulled my legs up so my feet were flat against the wall. I leaned back to my torso was almost level with the ground and pushed off. Throwing myself a few feet away from the wall itself, out into the open air. I used to climb down, but this was my favorite way.

Falling through the air, I called my wings. They were there almost instantly, as they'd done for years now. Jack fell down next to me, the wind carrying him down just as my wings did for me. I flew through the room and out into the corridor, big enough for Del and big enough for my wings. I dispersed my wings once I passed the entryway, falling into a run and then slowing to a walk. I strolled into the kitchen, Jack on my heels. "Do you have _any_ sense of self-preservation?" He was referring to my dive off the wall.

"I caught myself." We walked through the doorway and into the bickering that still filled the air. "And if I hadn't you would have."

"What if I hadn't been fast enough?"

I gave him the same look that Caeden gave me. The I'm-not-stupid look. "Jack. You would have. And if you hadn't I'd be bruised and sore, but none the worse for wear."

At hearing my rebuttal, Selie and Del had now turned their attention to the two of us. Del spoke up first. "What're you guys talking about?"

"Story did another dive off the rock-wall." Jack explained to them as I opened a cabinet and got out a popsicle. As it was always sub-zero here, we didn't need a fridge, just the cabinets kept everything as cold as needed.

"Again?" Sel looked over at me while I shrugged. She face-palmed and sighed. "I swear, between you and Jack, my hair is going to turn gray."

"I don't see what the big deal is. Jack, you almost sent Jamie flying into a statue. And then he got hit by a couch. I can fly, I'm immortal. Why is it suck a problem for me specifically?"

"Story, you're a young immortal. Only six years. And you don't have a specific place where your believers are, you don't even have to work for your belief. You don't have to protect a specific place. And you don't have the fall back of being a seasonal Spirit like Jack." Selie had slipped into mother-mode. There was no getting out of this.

"No rules, no responsibility. Right Jack?" I said, bringing up his favorite phrase.

"Wrong."

"Story, we don't want to see you hurt. We care about you."

I stilled, my flippant façade forgotten. "Yeah, well I wish you didn't" I said quietly as I walked to the doorway, throwing the rest of the popsicle into the garbage as I passed it. "I'm going topside... I miss the stars." I walked down the hallway, steadily increasing in speed until I reached the entryway where I launched myself, wings forming and soaring upwards towards the entry-hole.

Hours later it was Del who found me on the ice. I'd let my wings go once I'd decided on a place to land. The wind was fierce here and I didn't want to risk the pages being destroyed, even a little. He sat next to me, radiating heat, saying nothing.

"Del, you shouldn't be up here. There might be scientists around."

He snorted. "You know as well as I, that most of them leave during Polar Night. And the few who stay don't leave the stations." He looked up at the stars. "They really are pretty."

I nodded. "Back home, when I'd been mortal, we had a fairly clear sky. I could make out enough constellations. I always found Orion's Belt first." I added smiling. "It wasn't like in a city where the lights drowned them out... but a lot were still hidden. I love it here because, there's no lights. I can see 'em all."

"I've never been to a city. Never been close to any place with a population of humans above fifty in fact." He said still staring up at the sky. "I've always wondered what they were like." He looked down at me. "What did you mean earlier, that you wished we didn't?"

I sighed. "Back when I was mortal, unlike most of the people I knew, I actually liked my family. All of them. I truly loved my family, but I hated Niles. It was small town nowhere, and I hated it. I'd always craved adventure, a story of my own over everything else. I knew, back then that, because I loved my family, even though I hated where I was, I could never bring myself to leave them. It broke my heart more than the failed hopes of magic combined." Tears were now gathering in my eyes. "Every time I told this to my mom, of wanting to go off and do whatever, she'd always tell me that she cared about me and didn't want me to get hurt... After a while began to associate that phrase with 'you're going to stay here forever and never have a real adventure of your own'..."

I snuggled closer to Del's side, only half-conscious of it. "I know I'm Story Tale now. I know I'm immortal and that I'm having the adventure I always wanted... But every time I'm getting chastised for being 'reckless' and - feeling alive... I can't help but feel the same way I used to. I know that you don't want me to be hurt, but I can't stop myself from being me, from living my story the way I've always dreamed. I was mortal longer than I've been immortal. I've been dreaming of _my_ story for longer than I've been immortal."

Del said nothing. Only let me vent. "You know, you're a good listener when you're not taking naps or stuffing your face." I felt his chuckle through his side. "Thanks, Del."

"Any time."


	4. Meeting My Childhood

It was the night before the meeting, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring... Just kidding. It really _was_ Thursday night though. We'd spent the day making sure that the kitchen was clean of any of Del's messes. Sel had ordered him to eat in his room until the meeting had passed, wanting to make a good impressions on the Guardians. The meeting was going to be held in the area off the kitchen, in which there was a _huge_ table. We'd moved a lot of the armchairs from the library into place around the table so the other guardians would have some more comfortable seating than the usual wooden chairs you'd expect. I'd flown to the nearest village in South Africa with a store and bought a pack of frozen cookie dough at about noon. I'd left money on the counter along with a note saying "I'm sorry, I was in a hurry and you'd stepped away."

I was in my room, laying down on my bed and watching my globe pulse. After I'd gotten home one bright light had appeared in the Great Lakes region... right about where Niles was, in fact. It wasn't even big enough to be called a pinprick... but it was there. I smiled. _Caeden..._ It made me incredibly happy that my little brother was my first believer. It was an easy play to call, but it made me happy just the same.

My thoughts turned to tomorrow. I was going to meet the Guardians. I was going to meet my childhood. My smile changed from a content one to an excited one. I felt like the kid that can't fall asleep because they're waiting to see Santa. Well, I _was_ gonna see Santa. And the Easter Bunny. And the Tooth Fairy. And the Sandman. I was going to _talk_ to them. _Oh, man is Caeden gonna be jealous._ I giggled to myself.

To take my mind off of tomorrow, I went over to my trunk and got out my sketchbook and other supplies. I put my headphones on and began drawing. It became an... interesting design, to say the least. It was a mish-mosh of the different types of songs that had played while I'd drawn. I pulled out my quill, the one I'd brought with me from Niles. I'd taken to inking my drawings like this using the ink in my veins, and using this quill. I pricked my finger with it and began to cover the lines. Some became thicker, some thinner. The finished result was something I never could have achieved when I was mortal. I glanced at my clock and saw that it was about two in the morning.

I chuckled to myself and shook my head, pulling out my gouache paints. Even after I'd become immortal, my inspiration still came in the early hours of the morning... or late at night depending on how you chose to look at it. I began coloring the piece, music still playing in my ears, making it even more distorted and... interesting. With the change in tone and feel of the music, so did the colors as they hit the paper. By the time I'd finished it was almost 9:00am. I stretched and placed the completed piece in the trunk with everything else.

I walked over to the kitchen and pre heated the oven to what the directions on the package of cookies said. The other Guardians were supposed to get here at about noon. I planned on starting the cookies at about 10:30 so that they'd be fresh out of the oven by the time they got here. Sel glided into the kitchen through the doorway, looking sleepy. Selie and Del still slept normal hours - well a little more in Del's case - but, still, they slept.

Her short hair stuck up on one side, showing where she'd slept on it. I smiled and chuckled and I reached out and smoothed it. She smiled at me sheepishly. "Thanks." She yawned.

I pulled out a mug from the cupboard. "Coffee?"

"Yes, please."

I poured some hot water into the mug - I'd started warming it a while ago, knowing that Sel would want some coffee. I pulled out a package of instant coffee - Sel actually preferred it to brewed. I handed her the cup, which she took gratefully. "You excited to meet the Guardians?" I asked her.

"I have met E. Aster Bunnymund before. He is an old acquaintance of mine from the early days of Earth." Comments like those were the reason I knew Selie was _old_. I mean, she'd said that she remembered when Pitch had been Kozmotis, and that was before the fall of the Golden Age. I never let on that I knew how old she was though. Sel was sensitive about her age, didn't like being reminded that she was eons old. Honestly, I didn't blame her. "I am looking forward to meeting Sanderson Mansnoozie and Toothania."

"Not North?"

She snorted. "I am hardly eager to meet a former bandit who now leaves presents for children. Nicholas St. North is not on my list of people whom I hope to meet."

"What's so wrong with North?"

"He is over romanticized by children the world over. They think him to be a jolly old man who has nothing better to do than bring them joy one night a year. Many immortals do not see him as very different. I know him to still be the man he was, a bandit eager to jump into the fray, swords at the ready. I could very well be wrong about him, but that is my current opinion of the man known as 'Santa Clause'." She actually did air quotes when saying Santa Clause.

I shrugged and said, "When I found out Santa used to be a bandit I liked him even more. Frankly the 'jolly old man' image had begun to feel tired to me. I'm excited to meet all of them, regardless of who they used to be or who they are."

She smiled and said, "You see them and their reputations through the eyes of a child, don't you?" I waved my hand in the so-so gesture. She stayed quiet for a while, becoming more and more awake from her coffee. She looked at me. "I'm sorry for whatever it was I said the other day."

I smiled at her. "It's ok. Really. It was nothing, just... an old feeling. I'm fine."

After finishing her coffee, Sel had gone back to her room to "make herself presentable" before the Guardians got here. I'd put the cookies in the oven and then went to my room to do the same. I changed into a pair of jeans, the boots I'd worn in Niles, a shirt that seemed to float and a thin sweater I'd had for years. Putting my hair into a pony-tail, I went back to the kitchen to check on the cookies, which still had a few minutes to go. I'd had to guess on the times, even though the directions had said plainly the amount of time, the frigid air in the sanctuary meant we had to cook things a bit longer and a tad hotter, or it wouldn't be cooked at all.

Sel was back in the kitchen and I asked her to watch the cookies for me. I walked out of the kitchen and down the hallway, through the entry way and down the miscellaneous hallway. The second doorway on my left led to the open roofed room that Jack usually entered through. Each of the Guardians were supposed to be arriving through here as opposed to the "front door" as North's sleigh was too big to fit. Jack also wanted to show off his home to his fellow Guardians. Making a grand entrance was nothing when you could show off a palace carved from ice. I sat down along the wall and waited for their arrivals.

Jack was waiting topside to direct each of his fellow Guardians towards the hole, while I waited inside to welcome them. North arrived first, having used his snow-globes to bypass the entire distance between the poles. I heard him shouting as his sleigh soared down through the open ceiling until it rested on the ground. I was open mouthed. _It's the sleigh._ My open mouth became a smile wide as my eyes as I walked over to it. "Whoa." I said as I neared.

The sled gleamed, the dark red paint polished to where you could almost see your reflection. The reindeer were easily a foot taller than me, and that was _before_ you added in the antlers. North himself then stepped out of the sleigh, standing more than a foot taller than my 5'4" frame. I heard him say softly to himself, "Everyone loves the sleigh."

_You got that right._ I held out my hand as I said, "Hello. I'm Story, one of Jack's roommates."

He took my hand and shook it, looking confused. "Jack has roommates?"

I laughed once. "Yeah, there's four of us, though only three are here now. We're gonna wait here until all the others arrive." I'd never had to play hostess before, and it was a bit awkward. I found myself nearly saying "um" every five seconds.

North nodded and said, "Sounds like plan." My eyes had traveled back to the gleaming surface of the sleigh. "You like the sleigh?"

"Oh yeah. I used to dream I could hear the reindeer on the roof when I was little - who knows, I might have actually heard 'em." North laughed at my comment, though I noticed a small bit of confusion on his face. "So, how many kids leave carrots for the reindeer?"

"Not enough, they get almost many cookies as me!" I laughed along with him as Tooth fluttered down, followed by a handful of her fairies.

She flew over and landed in front of us. She was about my height, maybe 5'5". She smiled at me, slightly confused. "Hello, who are you?" She glanced at North, as if he could answer her question.

I held out my hand to her, as I'd done with North. "I'm Story. I'm one of Jack's roommates. I'm stuck playing hostess today." I smiled lopsidedly. "We're waiting here for the others to arrive." She nodded, accepting the information but looking confused about it. _Sheesh, you'd think they'd be less surprised about roommates._

Sandy arrived next, a cloud of Dreamsand floating down, Sandy and Jack both perched on top. Jack hopped off as the cloud touched down and dissipated. Jack walked over to the tree of us, Sandy floating along behind. "I see the two of you have met Story." Sandy floated up to me, a smile on his face, and held out his hand.

I shook it and said, "It's nice to meet you Sandy." Symbols flashed above his head, and, after he'd repeated them slower, I repeated back, "'The pleasure is mine?'" He nodded enthusiastically.

Jack looked at his fellow Guardians as he said, "As soon as Bunny get's here we'll go to the kitchen so we can have the meeting."

_Of course Bunny would be the last here, he hates cold._ Right as the thought had passed through my mind a tunnel opened up in the middle of the floor, not far from us, and E. Aster Bunnymund quite literally hopped out of it. "Speak of the devil. Bunny, this is Story," Jack said, gesturing to me. I walked over and offered my hand to be shook again. The pooka accepted it. Jack clapped his hands together. "Alright, everyone follow me!"

Jack took the lead, me next to him as the Guardians followed, Bunny already looking cold. We exited the entry room and turned right down the passageway, towards the entryway. As we entered the massive room I could feel the gasps and gapes as the Guardians took in the surroundings. There were columns lining the walls and the patterns on the floor were the most brilliant in the center, spiraling outward and branching off to head down each of the hallways. Jack led us towards the right hand hallway.

The smell of fresh-baked cookies could be perceived, especially to one so used to it. North took a deep breath before saying, "Cookies?" He looked towards Jack, but it was I who answered.

"They're premade, but they're fresh. I thought that you'd appreciate having fresh-baked cookies, North." I smiled at him.

He sputtered, "U-um - Thank you." Jack chuckled softly to himself and I rolled my eyes at him.

We walked into the kitchen where Sel was taking the tray of cookies from the oven. I ran over and got out a plate to put them on as Jack ushered our guests to the table in the open area that one could call a dining room. "Go tell Del they're here would ya?" I said to Selie.

"Let me introduce myself to our guests first." We went over to the table, me placing the plate of cookies near North and she going straight to Bunny. "Hello, Aster. It is nice seeing you again."

"Sel, what're you doin' here?"

"I live here, you dolt."

"I knew you lived in Antarctica, but I didn't know you lived with Jack Frost."

Jack looked at Sel. "You never told me you knew Bunny."

She leaned towards him as she said, "You never asked." Looking back towards the others, she said, "If you'll all excuse me, I am going to get Ara Del'Ket and tell him that you've all arrived." She left the room and I sat down next to Jack at the table. We'd all sat on one end, the table itself being too large for us to disperse around it and still be heard by one another.

"Um..." Tooth looked questioningly at Jack.

"Sel's lived here longer than me, I couldn't really kick her out could I?" Tooth glanced at me. I knew she wanted to ask what I was doing here, but didn't want to risk offending me. "My roommates will be joining us, if you guy are ok with that."

I was fighting to hide my smile, knowing once it was out I'd start laughing. "Can I offer anyone something to drink? Milk, hot chocolate...?"

North looked up at me, a cookie halfway to his mouth. "I would love milk."

"Anything warm. I thought the _north_ pole was cold..." Bunny said, shivering.

I looked to Tooth. "Would you like some hot water then? I know how you feel about chocolate and you must be cold too."

She looked up at me, speechless for a moment before saying, "Yes... Yes that would be fine." I stepped away from the table to go and get the promised drinks.

Jack called from behind me, "Hot chocolate for me too please!"

I fought the urge to yell back "get it yourself" and instead said, "Yeah, yeah! I'm not the maid, you know!" I heard Jack's chuckle as I went over to the stove where there was still a fair amount of hot water, which I'd had the foresight to make more of about half an hour ago. I poured four mugs of hot chocolate, one for Bunny, one for Jack, one for myself, and one for Sandy. I poured another mug full of only water and filled another with literally ice-cold milk. I brought Jack and North theirs first, Jack cooling the drink before actually drinking it. I brought Tooth's and Bunny's next, and Sandy's when I went back for my own.

While I'd poured the drinks I had heard North's attempt to whisper to Jack. "Who is she?"

Jack, not nearly as subtle and not caring if I over heard, said in his normal voice, "Story's that new immortal I told you guys about six years ago."

After Jack had broken the ice with that tidbit of information, the others had relaxed. Sandy being the only one, save Jack and myself, who hadn't partaken in the awkward filling the air. I sat back down next to Jack, with Sandy on my other side. "Everyone enjoying their drinks?"

My comment was responded to with nods from everyone at the table. Bunny looked around at the hugeness of the room. "Why's it so bloody big in here?"

"So Del can fit," was my response. He looked, understandably, confused. I didn't elaborate though. "So... what do you guys do at your meetings?"

Tooth looked at me excitedly. "Well, we talk about any new immortals we've found. We talk about any fearling sightings we've had."

"Which usually aren't that many." Bunny piped up.

Tooth, without skipping a beat, kept talking. "Any new ideas we have for how to make kids happier."

"And we talk of odd things we see during year." North brought up the last comment.

Tooth finished up sentimentally with, "Back when it was just Sandy and I we used the meeting to catch up as well. When Bunny joined we still caught up, but once North joined us we'd all gotten so wrapped up in our own Guardian duties, that the meetings had become a necessary hassle." She smiled over at Jack. "Ever since Jack became a Guardian we've managed to enjoy our meetings again."

Sandy waved his hands to get our attention. Symbols flashed above his head and I read them out loud. "'It was Jack's idea to trade off'?" He nodded again at my correct guess.

"How you read Sandy's symbols so good?" North had asked.

I shrugged. "I guess I'm just good at guessing."

Jack shoved my arm and said, "Don't lie, you know exactly why." He looked at the other Guardians. "Story's full name is Story Tale."

"I am the feeling of stories."

My comment was met with scrunched brows and generally confused expressions, even Sandy. Tooth looked at me, her head tipped to one side, and said, "What do you mean?"

"When's the last time you were completely enthralled by a story? Book, song, art, anything."

She smiled wistfully. "A long time ago."

"Do you remember the feeling? The feeling you had when you were in the story?" She nodded slowly. "I'm that feeling. The feeling of going to a foreign place that feels like home. When you feel your heart lift and dance in time with music or words or images... When the world around you doesn't exist, but the world in front of your eyes does." I smiled widely. "That's who I am."

Bunny spoke up. "There's never been an immortal for that before."

"Well, Aster, it's high time there was one." I cut him off before he could comment. "Belief in the feeling is there. It's been there since before I died. I believed in it, consciously, when I was mortal. Others do as well, even if most don't realize it. People may not believe in me, but they believe in what I am."

"What does have to do with reading Sandy's symbols?" North had brought us back to the point.

"When I experience stories... there's a meaning behind them that I feel, but that others normally don't. There was a time that stories were everything to me, now they're everything that I am. Sandy's symbols are nothing but a story... it's not that hard to see where this is going."

"Story's also had a way of seeing what people really mean, even when she was mortal." Jack had added once I'd finished. I gestured in a way that said "that's true" and took a sip of my hot chocolate, which was more like warm chocolate now.

Bunny, sat forward, holding his arms up in a way that said hold on. "Wait, you two knew each other before you became an immortal?" He said, gesturing to Jack and me.

I was a small bit confused. I knew Jack had told them about me six years ago. "Yeah." I looked at Jack, who was wincing, a grimace on his face. _That butt!_ "Jack?"

"Well..." The look on my face told him to not dodge the question. "Alright, so, I told them there was a new immortal... that's it." I narrowed my eyes at him. "Hey, I met you in winter, you died in spring, the meetings are in summer. By the time the next meeting came around you were already immortal." I sighed, face-palming. I swatted him on the arm and resumed my face-palm.

I sighed again before explaining to the confused Guardians. "Jack met my little brother and me the winter after you guys defeated Pitch. After the movie had come out." Jack had told me that, after the movie had been released, there had been thousands more believers, almost overnight. Which is how he'd found Caeden and me. The other Guardians knew this, so I didn't bring it up. "Caeden - my brother - came running in saying Jack Frost was outside, and I thought that I'd finally get the magic I'd wished for, for years. And then, when I didn't _see _Jack, he came and gave me a pep-talk by writing on frosted glass. By the end of the week, he'd hit me with one of his 'special snowballs' and I could see him. And I kept seeing him. Jack and I became friends, he even came to my work one time... And then, three months after we first met, I died. And Jack was there when I woke up."

I'd never told Jack that I'd heard his conversation with Manny, never told him I'd heard it, seen it, firsthand. He'd never told me about it either, so I'd never brought it up. "And we're still friends." I said in a much lighter tone.

Jack sat forward and said, "Hey, aren't we supposed to be having a meeting?"

After the revelations in the first ten minutes, the rest of the meeting was fairly boring. The tension slowly eased away and the other Guardians started talking openly. The only other bit of excitement was when Del came to join us. I'd forgotten to tell them he was a dragon. So, when a giant, scaly beast crawled through the entryway Bunny, Tooth and, surprisingly, Sandy all ran for cover, while North pulled out his swords... Poor Del started pouting and whining while Jack and I burst out laughing. Sel, of course didn't skip a beat and just sat, drinking her coffee.

By the end of the meeting, North had to get back to his workshop, and Bunny was nearly frozen. Before leaving, Bunny said, "Next year, the meeting's at the warren. I'm sick of cold!" Jack offered to show his remaining guests around, both of whom said yes. Sandy and Jack went off, leaving Tooth with me.

I smiled at her and asked, "Care for the grand tour?"

"Sure!"

"Anything you care to see first?" She shook her head. "Okay, then. Well... You've seen the kitchen, so I guess well start across the hall." I led her to the entryway of the kitchen. "Lucky, you. You get to see one of my favorite rooms first." I kept walking and went around the corner to the last door in the hallway, effectively 'across the hall'. "This... is the library." A wide smile was on my face, as always when I first entered the library.

Tooth's mouth was an "o" of wonder, albeit faint. "Oh..." She glanced around at the shelves, filled with books. At the few armchairs left and the tables scattered here and there. Each of the shelves was about fifteen feet tall and four feet wide. "Why are there so many books?" She looked at me and said, "Oh, duh." A sheepish smile on her face.

"No, actually, Jack's been collecting them for years, the last eighty I think. Sel's a Lillend, and they love stories. I was just happy to find the place when I moved in.

She noticed the upper walkway, pointing to it she said, "Where does that lead?"

"That's the upper walkway that goes all the way around the sanctuary. Don't worry, I'll show you that too." I added laughing. I ushered her out of the library and down the hall, showing her the living room(which had a giant screen for watching movies) and the Hall(which we used for house parties with music and such) as we passed them. When we reached the entryway again, we turned to the right, towards the bedrooms.

"Who carved these patterns into the floor?" Tooth had been gazing at them for a while now.

"I believe that Jack did. Keep in mind, he was almost alone for 300 years... he got bored. Yeah, Sel and Del were here, but that's still a long time alone. When he wasn't in burgess during Northern winter, he spent the first hundred years or so just carving out the sanctuary. He's added new rooms over the years, as well as making most of them bigger for Del, but I think he did those back when he first started carving the place. Extending them as it expanded of course."

"Where are we going now?"

"I'm showing you my room." As we walked, the first door on our left was an actual door, which was closed. "That's Korri's room, she's our other roommate." I explained. The next door, on the right this time was a massive archway that led to an even more massive room. "Del's room." There was a big ledge on one side that was his 'bed' and the rest had miscellaneous things Del had collected over the years... in the corner was a mess left from his meals. "Uh... ignore the mess in the corner."

I ushered her farther along the hallway to my room next. There was a curtain over the doorway that I brushed aside and swept my arm inward. "I know it's small, but it's mine." Covering the walls were frames with ice where there would be wood, the ice fusing with the walls. They held the artwork I'd taken years ago from Niles, some that I'd collected over the years, some that I'd made during the past six years, and one ink stained shirt. There were also the few pictures I'd taken with me when I left. My bed was in the far left corner, my closet across from it in the far right corner. In the near left corner was my globe. Far enough into my room to be able to walk all the way around, but, still, in the corner.

Upon seeing my globe, Tooth rushed over to it. I could practically hear the ooh's-and-ahh's. "That's my globe. I took the idea from you guys."

"But there's no lights... Oh! There's one."

I smiled and said, "That's my brother."

She gazed at the globe for a few more moments. "Why is it glowing like that?"

"As far as I can tell, it's because I have ambient belief. The parts that glow brighter every once in a while - like there," I said, pointing at a spot, "Are where people are experiencing stories in real-time."

"It's like a little heart beat."

"That's what I think too... What's your globe like?"

"Well... it's made of the same material as the rest of the Tooth Palace, with accurate elevations - in scale of course. And it has the same lights as the rest of us. That's why your globe seems so... foreign, for it to be glowing like that." She smiled sheepishly at me. "I'm used to lights, not a glow."

I shrugged, "No problem."

She looked up from the globe and around at the pictures on my wall. "Where did you get all these?"

"I made most of them." She walked over to one that was an abstract watercolor. It had thick black marks running up the page, spider-webbing outward so that they looked similar to trees. At the top, going down there were blue and purple streaks, while red and orange flicked up from the "trees". I pointed to the one she was looking at. "I made that one when I was mortal. I was reading the 'Scary Stories Series' again and felt like mimicking the feel of the illustrations in the books."

I pointed to another near it. This one was long and thin and had what appeared to be a bird with a _long_ tail. "That one's a paper-craft. I did that when I was mortal too. It's supposed to be a phoenix." I pointed to one I'd done about a year ago. "That one I did listening to nothing but violins when I drew it, and pianos when I colored it." I went around describing others, pointing out when I'd acquired one as opposed to creating it.

We got to a picture, one of Caeden and I, we were roller-skating. "Who's this?"

"That's Caeden. This was taken about a month before we met Jack." I looked at her. "I went back to see him about two weeks ago. When I got home I saw the light on my globe."

"You spoke with your _mortal_ brother."

"Yep." I led her out of my room, down the hall, towards the staircase. On our left we passed a doorway covered with a thin layer of ice, thick enough to obscure what lay behind, but thin enough to discern colors and shapes.

"What's in there?"

"That's Jack's room." She nodded and we kept walking. At the end of the hallway there was a doorway, covered with a curtain, similar to mine. On either side of the door a stairway led upward in opposing directions. I pointed towards the doorway. "That's Sel's room, the upper walkway comes down to the main floor so she can have her privacy." I led her up the left staircase and into the passageway.

After getting more than halfway down the tunnel the side facing inwards opened up and we looked down on one of the arenas. I explained, "Jack had a room built for every type of field or arena, plus others that are for other types of fun. That's what makes up the majority of the rooms in this hallway." The wall closed again and, about twenty feet later, opened to another room. Snow fell from the ceiling, thicker than the rest. "This room snows even when Jack is gone, there's always a layer of snow on the ground, just enough for winter fun." We made it to the stairways, one leading back towards the center of the sanctuary, one leading outwards. I led her down the latter.

To our left was a room that held another field, football I believe, I'd never been that much of a fan. We walked past it, heading farther away. The next door was also on our left... the rock climbing room. The flash of color that wasn't ice blue caught Tooth's eye and she walked into the room. I followed her in and explained that this room butted up against Valkyrie Dome. "What is this room for?"

"Rock climbing, and ice climbing if you're up for a bit more difficulty."

"I've never been rock climbing before," she mused.

I stared at her, open mouthed. "The Tooth Palace in on a mountain. How have you never been rock climbing before?"

She shrugged nonchalantly. "I've always flown there."

I shook my head in astonishment and walked towards the entrance, with Tooth following behind. Across the hall was the flight room, where I'd first met Del. When we walked in a smile lit Tooth's face, as she instantly recognized the room for what it was. "A flying room!" She looked down at me, as she'd lifted from the ground and was now hovering. She smiled and looked back around at the room. "Oh, I haven't flown for no reason in ages!"

I laughed and said, "Have at it."

"Oh, but, I don't want to just leave you. I mean, I am the guest."

Jack's trademark grin appeared on my face as I said, "Oh... don't worry about me. I'll join you."

"You can fly?" I didn't answer, for my wings were answering for me. I'd called them the moment she'd shown the smallest reluctance. By the time she'd finished her sentence the pages were already fluttering out of the upper walkway. I kept the smile on my face as my wings formed, nearly bursting into laughter at Tooth's surprised expression.

I lifted my wings and raised one eyebrow, still smiling. "We just gonna stand here? Or are we gonna fly."

She smiled in return as I launched myself and the two of us soared through the room. Weaving in and out of the columns and protrusions, in synch and out. Flying was just too much fun. I'd since mastered the sideways flight after my failed first attempt years ago, and did it now. A song popped in my head, one I'd always felt had a competitive feel to it... and I let loose. I went faster, and, admittedly, more recklessly, around the room. If it weren't for the brightness of her feathers I would have lost Tooth. As it was, the bright dot of color in my peripherals kept her in sight. She looped around me and matched my speed.

"You're so fast!" After a few moments of flying side-by-side she tilted her head and looked at me. "Do you hear music?"

Laughing, I called back, "All the time!"

When we finally touched down again, Tooth was smiling from ear to ear. "That was - so much fun!" she almost sang. She was almost as excited as she had been when the other Guardians had helped her to collect the teeth. Which reminds me.

"Jack says you've been getting out into the field again. How's it going?"

Her eyes lit up. "It's amazing!" She did a little twirl in the air. "I really don't know why I ever stopped."

I shrugged. "Like North said, you guys got so busy protecting children that you didn't have time for them."

"But I _do_ have time. I just got so wrapped up in my system that I didn't see it." She looked down at the floor, a small smile on her face. "I'm really glad Jack got me out again... I guess I kind of have to thank Pitch. If he'd never pulled that stunt, I might still be holed up in the Tooth Palace."

I looked at her carefully. "You're grateful to Pitch?" I said as carefully as my look.

"I think I might be. Not that I'll ever say that to his face, or to anyone else. Don't tell anyone, okay?"

"Cross my heart." I showed her the remaining rooms. The other arenas and fields, the snow room, and a few other fun rooms. When I showed her the ice rink she said something that made me pause.

"This kind of looks like that pond in Burgess, the one where we chased Pitch to. Not that you'd know what that looks like."

Lastly, I showed her Jack's globe. The globe itself was hollow, with the surface carved into accurate shapes of the land masses. With the center empty, gazing at the globe had an odd effect, since you could see through to the other side. It was almost like glass, but the land was frosted, literally, so you could tell them apart from the water more. "It's beautiful," she breathed.

"This was already here when I came. Sel told me that the summer after the incident with Pitch, Jack spent a month straight in here carving it. He told me that he did it mostly by hand - he didn't want to use his powers." I knew how he felt. It was different to do things by hand when you have powers. It's tempting to take the easy way out and poof it up. It's more satisfying to do it yourself though.

I showed Tooth to the entryway again, where she'd be leaving from. "I had a wonderful time meeting you Story."

"Likewise." We hugged quickly. "We should hang out again sometime. Maybe next time you can show me around the Tooth Palace."

"Oh, that's a wonderful idea! You should stop by the next time you're out and about!"

"How will I find it?"

"Um... I know! Look for one of my fairies and ask them to show you the way." She tossed a coin to me. "Show them this if they give you any trouble. They're more cautious now - which is a good thing! Good bye!"

"See you later." After she'd left I inspected the coin. One side had a mountain on it, the other had a tiny picture of what looked to be one of her fairies. "Hmm..." I put the coin into my pocket and went to my room. I pulled my jewelry supplies out of the chest and sat on my bed with them spread out around me. I pulled the coin out and - this is how you know I'm an artist - proceeded to turn it into jewelry. By the time I was done with it, I had a brand new necklace with the coin and a few other tooth-fairy related items all dangling from it. I hung the necklace from a hook on the side of my closet.

Getting up, I walked back to the kitchen where Del had stayed after the meeting had adjourned. I found him sleeping - big surprise. Sel was there as well, eating one of my cookies. I sat down next to her. "They good?"

She nodded. "Better than I could have managed, that's for sure." I chuckled along with her. Sel, despite having more than enough years to learn the skill, had never mastered the art of cooking. That was why I'd rushed over to get the cookies out. The woman can burn ice. I'm not exaggerating, she's done it. That's why she'd taken to liking premade meals and instant coffee. I, however, grew up with a grandma who made soup from scratch weekly. As well as making treats and such from family recipes each year with my mom. Not to mention that my dad's family is Puerto Rican, so I know my seasonings.

I grabbed one of the cookies for myself. They were cold now, but like they'd been in a freezer, which they kind of were. I bobbed my head and said, "They're not bad. I've made better though." I wish I'd had the insight to copy my family recipe for sugar cookies. They were amazing when you made them right. I gestures to the sleeping mountain in the corner. "How long's Morning Breath been conked out?"

"Since E. Aster Bunnymund and Nicholas St. North left." We sat in silence, downing a few more cookies. "Did Toothania enjoy the tour?"

"Yeah." I said smiling. "She actually invited me to her place." Sel raised her eyebrows, impressed.

"You must have made an impression on her."

"Maybe. It's more likely that, after having only male co-workers for - oh, I don't know - forever, she probably want's to have a female friend to hang out with." I smiled wickedly at Sel. "And, trust me, we _will_ have fun. She's a workaholic."


	5. Back to School

Almost a month later I left the sanctuary. I could feel my skin itching to move again - not to mention my feet were numb. What can I say, I've got a gypsy soul and was born for leaving. I said bye to Selie and Del - Korri was still AWOL, packed a bag and took off, literally. My first stop was Niles. It was September now, which meant Caeden was bound to have started school... but I was bored. I haven't felt homesick since the day I left. Which I found weird, because I always thought I would be. I always thought I would miss my family, if not the town... Turns out becoming immortal is the best way to evaporate homesickness. I did, however, miss Caeden. I'd missed him in the past six and a half years, and now that he could see me, I planned on visiting way more often.

When I'd left last time, I'd told him I'd be back in a month or so. A few hours after taking off, about three actually, I finally passed the Indiana/Kentucky border. I flew right over Louisville... and dropped to sight-see. I walked the streets, a few of which I actually recognized. I'd come here three or four times when I'd been mortal, always at the same time of year. My family had come for Thunder Over Louisville, the largest firework show in the United States - and it's not for the Fourth of July. It's for the opening of the Kentucky Derby. The fireworks last over an hour, are set to music, and are only rivaled by Chinese New Year _in_ China. I'd never gotten to come any other time of year. I resolved to go and see the show the coming year, as it was held in early spring.

As I was walking down the street I noticed someone familiar on the other side of the road, on the other sidewalk. I danced across the road, dodging cars as I went. Once I reached the other side, I looked for the familiar face. _Who is it?_ I found them and ran over, 'til I was close enough to discern their face better. I jumped back in recognition. It was my aunt - well step aunt. It was my step-grandma's sister, who lived here. I hadn't seen any of my relatives, aside from Caeden, in the past six years. I hadn't let myself see my mom... I'm not sure I ever will. But here I was, face to face with an aunt I'd only seen two or three times ever.

For one of the first times since dying, I felt invisible. I was staring at a relative, to whom I didn't exist. Yes, I'd traversed the globe, and been seen by no mortal eyes, but I didn't know any of them, I didn't expect to. It was surreal to see her and have her not see me. She walked past me, without a glance. Distracted by her, I didn't notice a pedestrian 'til they walked through me. I immediately, instinctively, jumped off of the sidewalk and up onto an awning. My breath came deep and fast. I really hated being walked through. It was like having ice-cold water poured down my back, and having my breath knocked out of me. Aside from the physical sensations, I also felt like someone had stabbed my heart. When someone walks through you, you feel their absence of belief. It's not a pleasant feeling to say the least.

I had my arms wrapped around my abdomen, and, had anyone been there to see, the look of fear could have been perceived on my face. Once I calmed myself enough, I jumped down, being careful to not walk through anyone else. I'd dropped my bag in my mad dash up to the awning and had to locate it. _There..._ It was almost laying in the street. I swerved around people and snatched it up, slinging it over my shoulder. I took one last look around downtown Louisville and called my wings back. I was ready to leave.

Half an hour later I dropped onto my old street. I was a few blocks from my old house, but I didn't mind walking. Unlike the street in Louisville, there were no other pedestrians on the road, there weren't even sidewalks in this neighborhood. I had my hands in my pockets as I strode down the street. A dog barked at me as I walked passed it. That was something I'd noticed. Animals always saw me, or at least sensed me. I found it hilarious when a dog on a leash was barking at me and their owner was oblivious as to why their dog was barking at thin air. "Oh, shut up." I said it good-naturedly. Being walked through had thrown me off my game, but I was good now. I was gonna see my brother again, how could I be in a bad mood?

I came up to my house and hopped over the fence into the backyard. It still stunned me to see our completed, not to mention good looking, backyard. Before, my mom hadn't had a chance to make it what she'd wanted. In the past six years she'd obviously found time. I remember the last time I saw it with mortal eyes. The pool hadn't been drained yet, so the water was a brownish-green color. The concrete was dirty and stained like it'd always been. The bushes were basically sticks, as the leave's had yet to come back. All in all, not very pretty. Now, the water was a slightly brownish blue, dirt must have washed in. The concrete had been stained another color, on purpose, but was still a bit dirty. The bushes were starting to loose their leaves. There was pompas grass all over, the seating had finally shown itself after years of nothing, there was a fire-pit - that worked - and, all in all, what my mom had always wanted the yard to look like.

I shook my head in faint wonder. It was weird being back... but, then again, I wasn't really back, was I? I climbed up to my old window. Sure enough, Caeden had left it unlocked. I slithered in, dropping my bag on the floor. It was only about 3:00pm, so I knew he'd probably just got home from school, if not he'd be home in a little bit. I went into his room and left a note, paper airplane style, on his bed. He'd see it when he got home. I went back upstairs to my old room and flipped on the T.V.

At about 4:15, I heard the front door open and close. _It's about time. _Caeden always got dropped off at our grandma's house, which was on State Line Rd. He went to school in Michigan, we lived in Indiana. Technically. Our grandma's was the closest the school could get him to home. He'd told me that last year he'd started walking home from her house once he'd been dropped off by the bus. I hadn't realized he walked at a snail's pace.

I didn't bother to get up, he'd find my note and come to me. I was feeling lazy. I heard him walking past the door to my old room and into his. I heard him drop his bag on the floor and turn on his T.V. Then I heard him find the note. A smile crept over my face. He thundered up the stairs, flying around the landing and almost falling flat on his face. I tried to hide my chuckle and almost succeeded. He didn't seem to notice though.

"Tori!" He jumped at me and buried me with a hug, which I accepted, though I was knocked over in the process.

"Did you stop to sight-see or something? I've been here since 3:00!"

"What about you? You said you'd be back in a month!"

"I said about a month." He sat back. "How's school goin'?"

"So far? Good." He glanced at the T.V. which I still had on. "What'cha watching?"

"Supernatural. Haven't seen it in a few years."

"Sweet."

The next day, which happened to be Wednesday, I went with Caeden to school. I even rode the bus. _That_ was weird. I had rode the bus for half of my senior year, it saved on gas. Hey, I'm cheap, what can I say? That was almost eight years ago. I sat in the seat across from Caeden for most of the ride, but ended up standing for the last few stops as my seat was needed. I'd stood on top od the seats a few times to avoid being passed through, though I think Caeden just thought I was seat surfing. I kinda was. I'd always wanted to, but had never been willing to piss off the driver, whom I'd always befriended. Riding the bus was almost like home for the fact that my bro definitely took after me. He sat up near the front.

I'd never sat in back on my bus. Ever. When I was younger I'd wanted to because it meant you were cool. Once I got older I realized I hated everyone back there and it was far less noisy and annoying near the front. People got stuff thrown at them in back, but, near the driver, no one dared. I'd always tried to find a seat to myself as well, I usually had so much stuff with me, I needed it. In any case, after the last stop I perched on the back of Caeden's seat until we got to Brandywine High School. I knew he wanted to say something to me, but didn't want to look like a crazy person by talking to thin air.

Once the bus pulled up I waited 'til everyone was gone before walking off. I didn't want a repeat of Louisville. Caeden had waited for me, walking as slowly as would seem normal towards the school. I caught up to him. "You didn't have to wait for me. Remember, this was my school long before it was yours. I know my way around."

"Why'd you sit on my seat for the ride? And why'd you wait 'til everyone was off before you did?"

"Do you want an older sister answer, or a serious one?"

"I don't care."

"I felt like seat surfing." He accepted that. I felt a little bad about lying to him, but I didn't want to freak him out. He knew people could pass through Jack when they didn't believe, but I hadn't yet told him I'd had the experience. I didn't plan on telling him either. Until he asked me outright, I wouldn't telling him anything serious.

We walked through the doors and into the cafeteria. I got bored almost instantly, as soon as the realization that I could wander the halls in peace occurred. "What's your first class?"

"Biology."

"Next?"

"Math, then Spanish, then lunch, art, CAD, English, and world history last."

"Alright, I'll see you." I waved as I walked out of the cafeteria and down the hall. My first stop was the art room. Mr. M had the door open, so I could walk in without arousing suspicion. Many memories lined the walls of this room. Some of my happiest ones from my time at the school. M was sitting at his desk, oblivious to my presence. I felt a pang. He'd been one of my favorite teachers. He looked older now. It was to be expected. The last time I saw him, he'd been in his early thirties, with his hair spiked up and his glasses on. He was wearing his usual attire of borderline hipster clothing, while still managing to look like a teacher. He'd always play music in class, Bob Marley and The Beatles being his favorites. Now his hair was a bit shorter and not spiked anymore. He still wore similar clothes, and still had his glasses, the stubble and almost goatee he'd sported were still there as well. But, yes, he was definitely older.

I went over to the back corner and sat down on the counter that ran all along the walls. Beneath the counter were the cabinets that held all the art supplies, on the other side of the wall were the pull out drawers that students could put artwork in. M already had his music on, and I smiled. "Yellow Submarine" came blaring out of the speakers. _Same old M._ His real name was Mr. McLaughlin but none of us ever wanted to spell it wrong, so we all called him either Mr. M or just M. I'd always opted for M. I remember that one student called him Sunset, and he called her Moonbeam. She'd given him a hippie name as a joke about his taste in music and clothing, he'd done the same in return. A few other students called him Sunset after that, but most of us called him M or Mr. M.

The bell rang and students poured into the room almost immediately, as it was right next to the cafeteria. They immediately dove into their projects, most of them pulling out iPods and MP3 players. Sitting in the corner I pulled a notebook out of my bag and drew on my own. Just little doodles, but it felt wrong to be in here without drawing. I was out of the way enough that no one would notice if my pen and book became visible, which had happened a handful of times before.

As I sat, I _felt_ the pieces they were working on. Intrigued, I followed the strongest sense of story immersion to the far side of the room. There was a girl who looked like a junior, she had her ear-buds in and was oblivious to the world around her. I watched her paint a scene that seemed to be a landscape. It was surrealistic, the colors all wrong, and trippy. It was awesome. I could faintly hear the song she was listening to, which I soon realized was on repeat. It was _Imaginary_ by Evanescence. I knew the song. I realized she was painting what the song described, a field of paper flowers with a purple sky. She'd added a few more touches, giving it an even more ethereal feel. Glowing green trees, and a river reflecting a normal sky among them. I reached out my hand and placed it on her shoulder. I felt her heart sped up as my Muse type effect kicked in.

This girl was exactly how I'd been when I was mortal. I was so enthralled by her working that I didn't realize that M had decided to take a stroll around the classroom. Until he leaned down next to her to see how her painting was coming along. Incidentally, he went right through me as he did. I pulled in a sharp breath and jumped up on the counter behind them. The girl blinked as if she'd just woken up, just realized that the world around her existed. She started talking to M about her piece. Meanwhile, tears had leaked out of my eyes, unbidden and unexpected.

I hung out in the library for a while after that. It was most often empty and I'd have ample time to move should anyone choose to sit where I was. I had to fight to keep myself off the books though. I'd had two walk-throughs in as many days. I was trembling slightly. Thought much of my mind was caught in that thought, a lot of the rest was still stuck on the girl. She'd been so into the story... I think she'd felt me, for a moment. I don't know, my mind might have been playing tricks on me. When I realized that Caeden would be having lunch I took a stroll to the cafeteria. I found him at the same table my friends and I used to sit. The one right next to the end of the lunch line.

He didn't see me walk over, he had his back to me. I walked around to the other side of the table and stood behind the person across from him. It took him a moment to realize that it was me standing there. He looked up and jumped. His friend turned around and looked right at me - or through me if you choose to look at it that way. He turned back to Caeden, confused. "Dude, why'd you jump?"

"Nothing, I just thought I saw something." I'd doubled over in laughter by now.

"That was priceless! Did you see his face? Did you see yours! Priceless!" Caeden was the only one who heard me. He fought to keep his friends from noticing his reactions to words they themselves couldn't hear. Which made it even funnier to me. I finally got up off the floor, finally over my bout of laughter. "Sorry, bud. I couldn't resist."

Under his breath, he mumbled, "You and Jack both."

One of his friends noticed him mumbling. "You say something?"

"No, just talking to myself." I was laughing again. I now realized how much fun Jack had with Jamie. But hey, that's how us older siblings are. Jack hadn't told me, but I'd figured out that he felt like Jamie was his second chance of being a brother. He'd missed his sister growing up, and Jamie had been the same age as she'd been when he first saw Jack. I hoped it worked out, but... I knew Jack shouldn't get too attached... after all. We'd stay long after they died. I kept that in mind while I was with Caeden. I had to. I knew I wouldn't be able to take it when the time came if I let myself stay as close.

Caeden noticed my brooding vibes as got up, telling his friends he was going to the bathroom, when in reality he subtly gestured to me. I followed. We went out the side of the cafeteria near the bathrooms, but we went the opposite way after that. We went all the way to the end, right before the doors. He turned to me. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing, I just thought of something, that's all." Not even my brother got to hear my weak side. No one did. I never tell anyone, never have either. The one time I told these types of things to one of my best friends, I'd started crying. I don't do it any more. Not even to Jack.

"Tori, I know you. I may have been blind when I was little, but I'm not now. I can see that something's wrong."

"It's nothing, bud. I'm fine. Go back and have lunch with your friends, I'll find you later." I walked off, back to the library.

I'm not a weak person. In general, I'm strong. Not physically, I've always hated sports, no. But emotionally. I have to thank my original characters, in part, for that. I created strong people, who made me want to live up to the example I created. I figured that, if I could think It up, I could achieve it. I rarely cry, I seldom whine about how the world isn't fair. I don't bemoan my fate about how others have it better than me, or have things I don't. Not because I'm a good person who realizes that I have more than an entire third-world country's population, but because I deal with it. I've always dealt with it. I accept, I move on, and I turn my mind to what makes me happy. Yeah I want more, yeah I want better, but I don't gripe and groan about it.

Sometimes I just have to hide away and get rid of all my "deal with it's" though. I used to hide up in my room, listen to a song that brought out all those feels, cried a little, and talked to either my ocs or some other character who'd know what I was dealing with. I'd talk to whoever would listen. It was usually at the end of these times where I'd promise that thing where I'd live normal if I could just get magic one, just fly once, just get a chance to create a story of my own, to leave the country. To do anything really. I'd give up the closest thing I could ever "realistically" get for what I wanted.

Now, I still hide, I still listen to music, but I don't talk to people. I talk to myself, in my head. I think through all the deal with it's. I was sitting in one of the bathroom stalls in the girl's room doing that now. I'd locked the door so no one would come in and sit on me. I was dealing with the thought of knowing my brother would stop believing in me, that he'd die. That everyone I cared about would die. That I was invisible. I was dealing with the feeling of the two walk-throughs. I was dealing with feeling like, even though I'd finally gotten what I wanted, even though I finally felt like I was doing what I was meant to, even though I felt complete for the first time in my life since I'd become Story Tale... even though I had friends and a family... I felt alone.

I'd always distanced myself from people. I used to describe myself as a social hermit. I love talking, hanging out, living. But I hide in my room. I stuff my face in a book. I immerse myself in my stories. I was social, but I was a hermit. I hadn't changed in that aspect. There was a reason I'd never had a real boyfriend, never fallen in love. I sighed. A few more tears slid out of my eyes and I wiped them on my sleeve. I took a breath and let out the remnants of those negative emotions. I stood up and walked out of the stall. As I left the bathroom, I glanced out the window, into the courtyard. The second lunch was in session and a few kids were sitting outside, savoring the warm weather while it lasted. Winter came fast once it got here. We took what we could.

I saw the girl from earlier, the one who'd been painting _Imaginary_. I went outside, through one of the propped open doors and stood near her. She was reading a book. I craned my neck to see the title. "What?" It was _Swan Sister_ a compilation of re-told fairy tales. I loved that book. I had a copy back at the Sanctuary, worn and read hundreds of times by myself only. Well, Sel and Jack had each read it once, Sel a few more than once, but still. This girl was drawing my notice more and more, first she listens to my kinds of music, then she reads one of my favorite books - and one of my favorite stories from it for that matter! She was reading _Chambers of the Heart_ which re-told the Bluebeard story. I ruffled the pages a little, and realized that all my favorites in the books were the ones she'd marked. _Who _is_ this girl?_

I followed her around for the rest of the day, and, sure enough, she was like a copy of me when I'd been mortal. She listened to the same music I did, she read the same books as me, she was even friends with the librarian! I was getting seriously freaked out. An idea had started growing, though. An idea I was hoping to bright to light.

The next day I rode on top of the bus, Caeden having left the window open so we could more or less talk. I hadn't told him about the girl yet, so he didn't know why I was eager when just the day before I'd been brooding. He should have learned by now, I can swing from a negative emotion to a positive one in seconds, always have. Until I designate a time for the deal with it's that is.

The wind was whipping past, blowing my hair around. I had my eyes closed, and just felt it for a moment. People were wrong, this was nothing like flying. I laughed once. Zip lines were closer, I'd been on those a handful of times. They were still nothing compared to real flight. I could have flown to the school, but I'd have gotten there way before the bus and I didn't feel like waiting around for my bro to show up. For the time being I was content to feel the wind on my face in the half light of morning.

"What's funny?" Caeden's voice wafted out of the window, quiet enough that I only just heard it.

"Nothing, bud," I said with a smile. I leaned down over the side of the buss and looked in through the window. "I just thought of a joke, that's all. It's an inside joke, you wouldn't get it."

He rolled his eyes at me, used to these kinds of answers from his older sister.

We pulled up to the school a few minutes later, this time I jumped down and met him at the door. Not having to wait for the kids to get off was much better, if I do say so myself. I leaned my arm on his shoulder as we walked. "I'll see you in art, I got a few people I want to see. Catch ya later, bud." I started to walk off.

"You know, you're the only one who still calls me bud."

I turned to him, surprised. Everyone had called him bud. In fact that's what people called his grandpa too, and when we'd first started calling him that, my mom had mused that she now knew where grandpa had gotten the nickname. "Really?"

"Everyone stopped after you... left." I felt a pang of guilt. I don't waste my thoughts on "I wishes" that pertain to the past, I don't dwell on regrets. I don't believe in regret. But I do feel bad about leaving. But I'd had too. I could have come back sooner though. I didn't have to wait six years.

It gave me time to loosen the bonds I had with him though. That's why I'd waited so long. If I'd stayed right off the bat, I wouldn't have ever been able to leave. I wouldn't have ever been able to let go. I'd always been selfish in the sense that I thought of what I needed before others, I don't deny that. I had to leave. I wouldn't tell him that though.

"Hey... when I said bye to you that night, did you remember, or did you think it was a dream?"

He was quiet for a minute before answering. "For a long time I thought it was a dream, but I found the note you left for mom... and I remembered hearing Jack's voice in the hallway. I knew it was real. And when you came back all doubts were gone."

I smiled. "Good." I turned and went inside, heading straight for the art room.

The girl was one of the first kids in the room. I could have called that. I sat on the counter behind her as she got to work immediately on her painting, putting _Imaginary_ on repeat as she did. After only a few minutes she was so totally in her story that she was oblivious to the world, and I was drawn into hers. I could hear the song now and feel the emotions she put into the piece. She was a true lover of stories. The thought crossed my mind that she should get that scholarship that my classmates had created. From what I could see, she fit the criteria.

I still didn't know her name yet, but I'd find out. She had dark brown hair that had a strip of purple on the right side of her face. Behind her glasses were green hazel eyes. I looked closer and saw the faintest ring of blue in there as well. Not that she noticed me right up next to her face. Personal boundaries aren't really a problem when people can't see you breaking them. It was kind of fun.

I was entranced by her trance like state, but not as much as I'd been yesterday, I was adamant about not being walked through again. Not for a long while anyway. She had some skills. I hadn't been able to master clouds until after I'd become immortal, and even now I struggled sometimes. I was impressed. This girl was, what, nine years younger than me? I went around to the other side of the table to get a better look at the painting and braced myself on the table. One of my hands was right on her MP3 player so I moved it over a fraction. "You're doing a great job." I mused aloud.

The girl looked up, almost right at me. I jumped back. _Did she just hear me?_ She looked down at her MP3 player in confusion. Curious, I walked back to the table. I touched her player again. "Your painting looks great." Her eyes widened. _She can hear me through the music player!_ A wicked grin spread over my face. I was going to have some fun.

I followed her around until Caeden's lunch when I went to see him again. Then I went to his art class and hung out with him while he drew horribly. My little brother is not exactly an artist. Give him a pile of Legos though and you'll get some awesome stuff. However, the school did not recognize Legos as art supplies. It's a shame because there'd be a lot more boys interested in art.

"You wanna really impress M?" He looked at me as subtly as he could.

"How." He had to whisper because not everyone had headphones on.

"Go to a new page of paper, and hold the pencil very lightly." I jumped over to the other side of the table and grabbed the pencil. Caeden's left handed so it was less awkward than you'd think it'd be. I started drawing something with the skill I'd had when I was mortal, I didn't plan on giving him _that _much extra credit. I was drawing Jack. I'd seen him enough over the years that his face had been burned into my mind. Caeden instantly saw who it was, which was my point, it was no use drawing something Caeden wouldn't be able to explain. I gave accurate proportions, made his hoodie realistic, etc. But I kept it as low key as I could, Like I said, my brother is not an artist, but I love him and wanted to help him out. When I was done, anyone who'd seen even the most basic fanart of the movie would have recognized Jack. I used nothing but blue pencils for the hoodie and kept the rest monochromatic. Mainly because the only colors that my brother can see correctly are Blue and Yellow. It killed me to not add other colors, but hey.

The bell rang and Caeden turned in his "extra credit" assignment. I was giggling so much that I couldn't bring myself to leave the room for a good few minutes after that.

When I stopped laughing I followed down the hall to the CAD room, but the door was closed. I caught Caeden's attention and yelled that I was gonna hang out in the library. I'd meet up with him in his English class. For right now, though, I was gonna find that girl. I knew she had English right now. I'd found that out yesterday. She had my other favorite teacher, even. Mr. Breneman usually left his door open, which made me happy. I was also ecstatic that he was still here. He always did tell us he wanted to teach 'til the day he died. He wasn't joking.

I sat down near his desk, on top of one of the tables he had all over the room. "Hey, Breneman. Miss me?" I could see his podium fro where I sat. On it were close to a thousand signatures, if not more. His graduating seniors had been signing it longer than I'd been alive. I'd signed it too. I'd also tagged Beer Ghost on it. Seeing the little blob guy made me smile. Caeden hadn't been lying when he said that Beer Ghost made appearances, I'd seen him on a handful of boards already. Breneman's was one of those boards. "I see you're still letting kids tag your board."

There's something about seeing without being seen. On one hand it's awesome, you're like the ultimate spy. On the other, it sucks. You can talk all you want and no one even knows what you're saying, let alone that you're there. Right now was one of those times it sucked. I loved talking to Breneman... but I couldn't do that any more, could I? I sighed. "I wish you could hear me right now. It'd be fun to catch up." I chuckled a nostalgically. "You know, I still had that picture of you with your hair down until the day I died." Breneman had _long_, thin hair that he always wore in a ponytail. On our last day of school ever, my best friend and I had convinced him to let his hair down and half of us took pictures. I laughed again at the memory.

I looked around at the classroom. They were reading Beowulf. I hadn't been able to get into it when we'd read it, too many god-tangents for my liking, but everything else I was fairly okay with. The girl was really into it though. Or, at least, she had been. Now she was looking confusedly around the room. The same way she had earlier when I'd spoken through the player. _Did she hear me talking just then?_ After looking for a minute or two she kind of shook her head and went back to the book.

I went over to her and sure enough, she was a couple chapters ahead of the rest of the class. "Damn girl, you are just like me." Her head snapped up and she looked to her left, where I was standing.

Breneman noticed. "Is something wrong, Tanya?"

She answered, sounding distracted. "No... I just... I thought I heard something."

"Okay."

I smiled and snuck out into the hallway where I jumped and whooped like an idiot. Even worse than Jack when Jamie first saw him. I was singing, "She can hear me, she can hear me! She can hear me, she can hear me!" I proceeded to act like the biggest dork on the planet until the bell rang and I jumped on top of the lockers to avoid the clogged stream of students.

I went to Caeden's English class after that. His teacher was one who'd come after I'd left, so I had no real opinion on her, but they were reading The Outsiders. I had fond memories of reading that in school. One time in particular where I was reading chapter seven, which was one chapter ahead of everyone else, and I suddenly saw "Chapter 9". I hadn't even realized I'd read through chapter eight too. I stopped in the middle of class, saying softly to myself "Well, that's enough for the day!" I was two chapters ahead of my class, that allotted me goof-off time.

Caeden was struggling to see the words, the school not having any large print copies. "Read along with the tape, bud. Listen and flip the pages when everyone else does. That's what half of these guys are doing anyway." He scrawled the words, _I'm trying to read on my own_, into his notebook. "Yeah, well, you're not reading half of what's happening, I can tell that from watching you." Not to mention that I could feel him struggling at the edge of in-story bliss. If he just listened he'd be there. To me and the tape. "You're not gonna know half of the questions on the tests at this rate."

With his nose still in the book he glanced up, glaring at me. "_Fine!_" He breathed/hissed so low that no one would notice. He sighed in defeat and put the book down on his desk, and succumbed to listening. I saw on his face that he was already more into the story. I felt him click into in-story bliss. I smiled. _Success!_

At the end of his class I walked to the door after all the other kids had filed out. "I'm gonna head back on my own, I'll meet you at grandma's house. Okay?"

"Okay." I let him walk off to history as I went to the library which was two rooms down. Like I said, the place was deserted most days, I was worry free when it came to walk-throughs. I'd found out that Tanya went to the library for the last ten minutes the past two days. I was hoping she'd follow suit and do the same today. In any case, I walked into the library and hopped up onto one of the shelves in the fiction section grabbing a book and laying it down on the top so no one would see me reading. I laid down on my stomach and proceeded to read the book, flipping the pages as quietly as I could. I'd picked one of the most boring ones here. How did I know it was boring? I'd read it before. Why was I reading it now? Because I needed to stay aware.

Sure enough, she walked in about ten or so minutes before the bell. _Dang, you're more punctual than Sandy._ She signed into the library, something the school did, so they knew kids weren't ditching class and were actually going where they said they would. She walked into the fiction section and I watched as she wandered through the shelves, unaware of my presence. I hopped down off of the shelf as she walked into the aisle it created. I grabbed the book and put it back. Her head snapped in my direction.

I chuckled to myself. She'd seen the book out of the corner of her eye. I wiggled the nearest good book on the shelf, less than an inch. She walked closer. I have to admit, I admired this girl a bit. She didn't show any fear or trepidation at all, and neither would I have were it me in her position. I pulled it out a little, just enough so she knew which one I'd been messing with.

She leaned in close to see which one it was, squinting a bit behind her glasses. Under her breath she read, "'_Stranger With my Face_'? I've read that already..." She pushed the book back in. So she'd already read that one. Fine. I moved to another book I'd read that was also good. She noticed as this one was pulled out, more than the previous one. She went over to it and read out again. "'_The Two Princesses of Bamarre_'... Hmm..." She pulled out the book all the way. I smiled.

_ Good, about time you _haven't_ read a book I like..._ My thought trailed off. This girl really _was_ just like me. People had told me similar things all my life, one from my friend that went, "Oh my God... there's a book you haven't read!?", in a half mocking way. I shook my head and followed Tanya to the checkout counter. A small smile covered my face when I saw that it was the same librarian we'd had my last year there.

"Find something new?"

Tanya nodded. "It was weird, it was like the books were jumping out at me. Like they wanted me to read them."

Ms. Mitchel laughed and said, "It sometimes seems that way. I remember this one student we had about eight years ago. She was in here more often than you. She would even get books off the new rack, just to read one she hadn't yet." She tapped the book Tanya had grabbed. "She checked this book out a few times, if I remember right."

"Yeah, I know, I read a lot." Tanya said, smiling and looking towards the floor. They finished the transaction and Tanya went and stood by the doors, waiting for the bell to ring. I was standing by Ms. Mitchel. She'd been talking about me.

"Don't worry, I still read. I still love stories. Hey - I _am_ stories." I tapped one of the books she'd yet to enter into the system, one of the new ones. "That's a good one, the dragon reminds me of a friend of mine." The bell rang and I followed Tanya out to her bus. I jumped up on top and I noticed Caeden notice me. I waved and called out that I'd meet him at home. The bus lurched forward and we were on our way.

I watched as student after student walked out the doors and down the street. Finally, Tanya waked off. I had to laugh when I saw where we'd stopped. One of my friends lived right down the road, or at least she used to. On the next block actually. I followed Tanya to her house and watched through her window for a good while, waiting for her to pick up the dang book. By the time 8:00 rolled around she'd finally gone up to her room for good. She pulled out the book. I smiled. It was time for my plan to kick into over-drive.

She read the entirety of the poem in the beginning first, something I'd done only once I'd read the book a few times. Then she dove into the story. It wasn't long 'til I felt it click. I hate to interrupt a story, especially one I know so well, but, sometimes, you gotta push your feelings for part of something aside when your feelings for the rest matter more. She was already a chapter in before I knocked on the window.

Her head snapped up. Her eyes locked on mine. Her jaw dropped. I smiled... and started laughing when I realized she could actually see me.


	6. Believing in Stories

"YES!" I pumped my fist in the air and lost my hold on her windowsill. I landed in a bush a story down. "Woops." I was laughing. I heard the window above me open and Tanya poked her head out.

Looking down at me she said, "Are you alright!" Man, this girl was _so_ much like me. She didn't start with the question of who the heck am I and why was I spying on her, no, she started by asking if I was okay after I fell off her window.

I got myself untangled from the bush and called up that I was fine. I took a few steps back and looked back up at her window. "You might wanna take a step back." Now that she believed I was there we could collide. Once she'd moved I took a running leap and ran up the side of her house 'til I could grab the windowsill again. I hoisted myself in and landed on her floor.

She was halfway across her room, caught between common sense telling her to leave the stranger, and her curiosity wanting to know who I really was. I could see the debate on her face. I'd had that feeling more than once. I stayed by her window, to try and seem un-threatening. "Um... Who are you?"

I smiled. "You should already know, or at least have an idea. Seeing as you can see me."

She scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. I saw her eyes dart to a spot on my left, and I followed her gaze. I then burst out laughing. This girl was quick! "Oh, wow." She'd looked at a poster on her wall. The poster happened to be for the movie _Rise of the Guardians_.

"What?"

I shook my head, still half-laughing. "Nothing, just that you have that poster. I really shouldn't be surprised." I looked at her again. "You figured it out yet?"

"You're not... but that's not really _real_, I mean... it's just a movie..."

"And a book series, and a horde of fanfictions, not to mention fanart. And it's all based off legends that have been around as long as humans."

She was staring at me wide-eyed. "But..." She shook her head. Now, this is why I dislike people as a whole. We've all convinced ourselves that magic isn't real and we're stuck in this world of boringness. That and most of them are stupid beyond reason. She was stuck in the mindset that immortals don't exist.

"Come, on. A girl that reads as often as you? A girl who _loves_ _stories_ as much as you do? You're trying to convince yourself otherwise." I shook my head and sighed. This is why kids are easier... but kids aren't really old enough to comprehend the real love of stories.

"You're really an immortal aren't you?"

"Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner! See, I _knew_ you wouldn't psyche yourself out of it." I still hadn't left her window. And I think she might have been frozen in her spot. "I'm really glad you can see me... I'd hoped I could get you to."

She smiled softly, and it was then that I realized that I already saw her as a friend. "What's your name?"

I pulled myself in to an official looking pose. "I, am Story Tale, the feeling and love of stories." I finished my own introduction with a curtsey. I pulled out of it and resumed my normal, more comfortable, pose.

Tanya's eyes widened and her mouth opened in wonder. "You're stories?" She sounded eager, almost like she was meeting a celebrity. It was cool, and I was almost milking it. Almost.

"That, I am."

"Wait... were you there this morning when I was working on my painting?" I nodded. "And when I was reading _Beowulf_?"

"Yep."

She seemed almost hesitant to ask this last question, but, just like I figured, she plowed ahead. "And the library? Showing me the books?"

"Yes and yes. Girl, I've been following you since yesterday."

"I felt you in the art room! I was, like, weirdly inspired and, when M came over it was like I just woke up from a nap."

I laughed. "Yeah, I've had that happen a few times."

She noticed that I hadn't yet moved and jolted in surprise. "Oh! Um... do you want to sit?" She gestured at her room.

I shrugged. "Sure." I went and sat on the edge of her bed, and she sat next to me.

She was still wide-eyed. "Wow..." She breathed.

I laughed again. "I'm not a celebrity! I grew up here, for Pete's sake. Not really that special."

"You grew up here?" I nodded. "How old are you? Well, not how old you look, I mean you look nineteen, but your real age."

"Twenty-six."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "But... I thought all the immortals were old. Like a few centuries... I thought Jack Frost was the newest one. Wait - are the Guardians real!"

"Yes, yes they are."

"That means Jack's real?"

"Oh, he's real alright. He's my roommate. Or, landlord... Whatever, I live at his place." I waved my arm in a way that said I didn't feel like trying to find the right term.

"Wait, wait, wait... roommate?"

"Yep, there are three other's who live there too, one's an immortal, and the other two are technically legendary creatures."

"What creatures are real?"

"Basically all of them, I've only met a few of them though. Some even _I'd_ never heard of, so you know they stay well below the radar."

"So what are your roommates?"

"Selie is a Lillend. And Del..." I chuckled softly, anticipating the reaction. "Well, Del's a dragon."

"Dragons... are real." A look passed over her face and I swear I could almost hear her brain going "SQUEEEEEE!"

"Oh, yeah. But Del acts more like fat housecat than the ones from stories."

"What's he like?"

"Well..." We talked for hours, mostly me answering her questions. On one hand, I was bored with questions, but on the other, I love talking, and this was the first mortal, aside from my bro, who could see and hear me. I was _not_ holding back. Midnight rolled around and Tanya was yawning so wide I thought bats were going to move in. "Okay, you need sleep. Tomorrow you have school. I'll see ya later!" I walked over to the window, which was still open and started climbing out.

"Bye."

"Oh, hey, wanna see something cool?"

She instantly perked up. "Sure." She came over to the window.

"Watch this. You have the privilege of seeing my wings..." I called my wings to me, and they formed, one inside Tanya's room, one outside the window, as I was straddling the sill. Her jaw just about hit the floor. "Alright, see you tomorrow." I leapt out the window and hovered for a second outside.

"See ya tomorrow." I turned and flew away. As I was leaving I heard her say to herself, "I hope this wasn't a dream... I want it to be real... please let it be real."

I'd seem the Dreamsand hours ago, and all it took was a little flying west to find the trails again. I followed them to the cloud. Perched on top was the little star pilot who'd accepted me at the meeting without question. He saw my wings as they fluttered away and turned to face me. A smile appeared as he flashed his symbols for 'Hello'.

"Hi, Sandy."

'What brings you here?'

"I... uh, I actually had a question. Well, a few actually. What age do you stop giving dreams?"

He waved his hand in a 'so-so' gesture. 'It depends, sometimes a child believes longer, sometimes they don't'

"So you stop when they stop believing." He nodded. "Could you give a dream to a teenager? One that believes, sort of?"

He thought for a minute. 'Possibly. Who is this teenager?'

I smiled. "I have two believers now, Sandy. My brother, and this girl. I just left her - she needs sleep - and... she's scared that I was just a dream..." I looked over the edge of the could to the landscape below. "I know how she feels. I've had that same worry more than a few times, almost always when something great happened late at night. Sometimes I was wrong, but... In this instance, she could wake up and think I _was_ just a dream, and that would ruin it. What I'm asking is... Could you give her a dream for me? One that proves I'm real?"

Sandy hesitated. Finally, he mimed, 'I could try. But there are no guarantees it will work on someone past their childhood.'

"I'm willing to take whatever chance I can get." Sandy made himself a plane and I called my wings back.

As we flew towards Tanya's house, Sandy glanced over at me. His plane, being made of Dreamsand, was silent and I wouldn't have to yell, which made me happy. 'How did you get a teenager to believe in you?'

I laughed. "I took a page from Jack's playbook. I messed with her. Talking through a music player, interrupting her while she was immersed in a story, and, finally, blatantly making things move in front of her. I followed her home and got her attention while she was reading - which is not an easy feat." I shook my head in slight wonder. "Sandy, this girl is _so_ much like me... and she truly does love stories. She deserves this. I'm speaking from experience, the worst thing for someone who loves stories, is to eternally be chasing them, only to be caught in 'reality'. Meeting Jack was the best thing that happened to me as a mortal, and becoming an immortal was a dream come true for me. Tanya deserves to know that magic is real... no matter your age."

'You seem a lot older than you are. Did you learn this once you became immortal?'

"No... I knew most of this stuff for years before I even met Jack. I've known it since I picked up my first book. Incidentally, it was about the Tooth Fairy." We both laughed, Sandy silently. "You'll like her, Sandy. Heck, she's got a poster of the movie in her room!" Sandy raised his eyebrows. I laughed again. "I know, I had the same reaction!" We flew onwards and, an hour later, made it to Tanya's house.

I spent the rest of the night at my grandma's house. Well, _on_ her house. A little weight was lifted when I realized she was still here. I don't mean still living in her house... I mean alive. She'd turned eighty the year I became immortal, a few months after actually. Though she seemed younger than she was, I had to remember that she wasn't a spring chicken. I mean, she'd worked at the local Haunted House with me for years, she's got a tattoo that she first got _after_ she was a grandma and _after_ she was retired, she wears tube-tops and shorts in the summer, goes barefoot too, she's got short spikey dark brown hair that she dyes, and she's got a lead-foot and drives like a bat-outtahell. That actually where I got my speed-demon tendencies.

But... For a few years before I became immortal, my mom had been telling me that she hoped grandma would hang around as long as possible. That's why a little weight was lifted, but only a little. It was only a matter of time before she wasn't... here, anymore. I sighed. _Another thing to chalk up for the 'deal-with-its'._

At about 7:00 I saw my mom's van pull in, and Caeden get out. He waved bye to my mom as she pulled out and drove off to work. Caeden came and sat on the porch. I swung down and sat down on the handrail, dangling one leg while the other was propped up in front of me. "Where were you last night? I waited up 'til almost eleven. Then mom yelled at me to go to bed, so... you know mom."

"Well, I saw someone I know and followed them around for a bit, I lost track of time, sorry." That was true, while Tanya and I had talked the hours had flown by. I also kinda knew her. I wasn't gonna tell Caeden about her until I knew for sure she could still see me, though.

"Who was it?"

"No one you know bud. Hey, so when does Jack usually start swingin' by?"

"Late October, usually. So I see him sometimes at Halloween."

I eyed my brother. "Really?" I said with a faintly British accent. I'll use accents sometime, I have for years, even when I was mortal. I could fake some of them easily enough and certain words just sound better when used with a different accent. Caeden nodded. I grinned. "I think we might just go trick-or-treating with you this year. You are still going right?"

"Yeah, of course. That one of the best parts of Halloween!"

"And what's the other best part?" I already knew the answer. My brother and I had the same philosophy when it came to Halloween. Treats and Costumes.

"Dressing up, duh."

I fist bumped him. "That's my bro." We heard his bus turn the corner and he got up. I followed him to the street where the bus stopped and he got in, while I got _on_. After one more stop I got bored, and I was anxious to see Tanya. I leaned over and called through the window. "I'll meet you there, bud!" I jumped up and called my wings, which were there in an instant. I flapped off towards the school.

Less than a minute later I touched down in front of the school, where the kids who arrived by car were dropped off. I walked in behind some kids who'd let the door swing shut behind them... that I held open and let shut behind _me_. Not that they noticed that the door was held open a moment longer than it should have been. The past two days, I'd noticed Tanya wasn't the type to hang out in the cafeteria, like half the student body. No, if my hunch was right, she'd be hanging out near the library.

_Oh, look, I was right_. She was standing at the doors to the library, juggling her bag and her books. From what I could see she was trying to return a book or two. I walked up behind her. "You need help with that?"

I saw her shoulders slump in relief. With her back still to me she said, "That would be great, thanks." She turned around, saw me standing there and promptly dropped everything she'd been juggling. She slapped her hand over her mouth and I was sure she was trying not to blurt out something that would make her sound crazy. With her eyes wide she grabbed her things and scurried off to M's room. I followed.

She knocked on the door and he called her in. "Hey, M? Can I leave my stuff in here 'til the bell? I want to get a new book and Ms. Mitchel's not here yet. I don't want you to think I'm late or anything."

"Sure, just don't be more than ten minutes late, or I'm gonna have to mark you tardy."

"Thanks!" She dropped her stuff in her spot and left the room almost as the bell rang. I followed by hopping along the tops of the lockers, until I made it to the library almost a full minute after her, as I'd had to wait for the kids to get outta my way for some parts. She was off in the corner, farthest away from the desk and behind some shelves where we could mostly hide. When I rounded the corner of the rack she whisper-screamed, "I knew it wasn't a dream! I knew you were real! I knew my imagination wasn't _that_ good." She smiled up at me. "You're here, you're really here!"

I laughed. "I told you I'd see ya tomorrow."

"I know, I just thought it might have been a dream. But I had another dream later that made me think it wasn't..." I smiled to myself. She shook her head. "Anyway, I am so glad you're still here!"

"I'm glad you remember me."

"How could I forget you? You're stories. Good stories are never forgotten."

I paused. Did she really just say that? A grateful smile covered my face. "Well said." We sat there smiling at each other for a moment before I said, "Shouldn't you be getting back to art?"

"Oh, yeah!" I followed after her laughing and shaking my head. "So, what do you think of my painting?"

"You heard me yesterday. Seriously? It's awesome. I didn't master clouds 'til a few years back, and that river... Girl, you got skills."

She blushed. "You really think so?"

I gave her an are-you-kidding-me look. I hate when people show insecurities. Partly because I got rid of mine over a decade ago, and partly because, when they deserve the compliment, they shouldn't feel that they don't. "I'm _Story Tale_, remember? I know a good story when I see one. Imaginary is a great painting."

"How'd you know that's what it was called?"

"You based it off the song _Imaginary_. Knowing that it's easy to guess. And, again, I'm Story Tale, I kinda know what a story's called, regardless of the form it's in."

We'd made it to the art room and she got out her painting and her supplies. Today, as with yesterday, she was painting the paper flowers... which was very time consuming, believe you me. Because she could now see - and hear me - I sat on the opposite side of her so I could talk while she painted. "I love the way you did these trees, by the way." She said thank you in sign language. "You know sign language?" She nodded. "Well, then talking to you with other people around is going to be much easier. I'm a bit rusty at it though, so you might have to spell most of the words out." She then sighed something that, a few years ago, I might have asked her to repeat... but now I read it like a book. Man, I love my powers. "Never mind, I can read them fine. One of my best friends was taking ASL as her major in college. How'd you learn it?"

'My cousin is deaf. They used to live down the block but moved away a few years back. I still remember though.'

Sandy's symbols were easier to read, but I could still figure out what she was saying. It was harder though since she was trying to keep it low key, and not look like she was having a spaz attack or anything. I didn't blame her.

'Are you coming to my next class?'

"Eh... it's chemistry. I took that already, not really keen on re-taking it." She looked confused a minute before understanding crossed her features. "You already forgot that I followed you yesterday, didn't you?" She nodded. "You're just as bad as Caeden." I said under my breath.

'Who?'

I paused. "I'll tell ya later." I sat back and looked around the room. I wanted to draw, or paint, or something... alas, I wasn't supposed to move visible things when I was invisible. "Eugh! School is so boring. Once you've graduated that is. I'll be back." I got up and went over to the door that lead to the courtyard. Luckily, someone came over to spray something a minute later, so I didn't have to wait long. I called my wings and took off, heading for my old house.

My wings were pretty smart. They knew when to come and when not to. I mean, stories wouldn't form into my wings unless no one was going to miss it or see it flying towards me. Even though I'd stood right next to more than a hundred stories, in the art room and the library, I guarantee, none of them formed my wings. They all probably came from the houses nearby.

I made it to the house and dropped to my old window, sliding it open as I did. I slipped into the game room and went over to my old bed. Stretching underneath it, I got a hold of my bag. Caeden and I had agreed that it would be the best place to stash it. It was out of the way if it became visible in my absence and I didn't have to carry it with me _everywhere_. I went back to the window and called my wings back. That's another thing I love about my wings. They're not attached, as in, not bulky and in the way. I always let them go the moment I go into a building. I'd learned from the first time they'd broke to not let it happen again.

Closing the window behind me, I flew off back to the school. I dropped into the courtyard not three minutes after I left. Walking towards the door that lead into the art room, I noticed Tanya jump up and come over to the doors, carrying some piece with her and grabbing a can of fixative as she went. She popped out the doors and went to the nearest table to set down the charcoal drawing she'd brought. "I needed a reason to come out."

"I know."

She vigorously shook the can and began to spray the drawing. "Where'd you go?"

I held up my bag. "To get my stuff so I can draw too." She looked at me with confusion.

"Can't you just magic up a piece?"

I burst out laughing. "No, I can't just 'magic up' a piece. My powers don't work like that. And just because I _am_ stories, doesn't mean I can't _make_ them." She picked up her piece and waved it around a little, to dry it more and to try and air out the smell of the fixative. "Besides, it's more fun to do things by hand." I craned my neck to see the piece she'd sprayed, and snorted.

She blushed. "What?"

"Nothing. It's a nice picture of Tooth."

"Then why'd you snort?"

"Because I did one a few weeks ago that looks almost like a colored version of yours." I pulled out the piece I'd done a few days after the meeting. I'd actually done each of the guardians, even Jack, as well as each of my friends. I'd brought them with me to give to subject of each respective piece. I'd given Sandy his the pervious night.

She looked at my picture of Tooth and her shoulders slumped. "You're so good." She looked down at hers.

I could tell what she was gonna do by the look on her face. "Don't. You. Dare." She looked up at me in alarm. Part of me felt a little guilty for scaring her, but the rest of me was too mad at what she'd been thinking to care. When I'd been mortal, I'd hated throwing away any piece of art, any piece of writing, however much I was disappointed, stayed. And whenever one of my books had the slightest change of being harmed I flipped. Now I was _far_ more protective of stories, being one of them. "If you destroy that, you will never see me again." I was pissed.

Tanya looked like she might pee her pants. Back when I'd been mortal, I'd worked at the Niles Haunted House. It was rated one of the top ten in the country more than a few times, so I'd always been proud to work there. I'd also been great at scaring people. My specialties were sneaking up on people and appearing out of nowhere, and my faces. I had two faces, one was scary and one was just plain evil. The difference? A smile. I was giving her the scary one now, and I wasn't joking like I'd been when at the House. No, now I was dead serious. No pun intended.

"Okay... okay..." She gestured at me to calm down like you would to some wild animal or a dog that's ready to attack. I blinked. I could feel the look slip from my face, could feel the red flags fade from the atmosphere. "I'm sorry. I should have realized that stories mean a lot to you."

I sighed and ran my hand over my face. "No, I'm sorry. I overreacted, like, a lot. I didn't mean to scare you or anything."

"It's okay." She said it, but I could see she was shaken. _Damn it! Way to make a first impression on your first believer!_ She turned and went beck inside, making sure to discreetly hold the door open for me.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have scared you like that. Stories are just..." I looked away for a moment. "Stories use to be everything to me, now they're everything that I am. To see someone about to destroy one just - I don't know - flipped a switch in my brain." I laughed once. "Now I know how Sel feels."

'Your roommate?' I nodded. 'What do you mean by that?' We were back to sign language.

"Sel's a Lillend. Do you know what they are?" She shook her head. "Well, what legends say are they were a race of creatures from another world. In reality, they were from the Golden Age, which is technically a different world. 99% of them are females. They are like Nagas except for the fact that they have wings as well. So, torso and head of beautiful girl, the rest of their body a snake's and bird wings. They also _love_ stories. They'd rather be payed with a story than with gold. They collect artwork, books, music, instruments, etc. They are also extremely territorial. Oh, and immortal."

I paused for a breath. "So, when I first met Sel, she was trying to basically kill me since I was 'trespassing' as she put it. I threw up a wall of stories - on instinct, I hadn't figured out how to actually use my powers yet - and she deadpanned. She wouldn't harm a story if her life depended on it. She's as protective of her home as I am of stories... You know, I hadn't quite realized that until now." I stopped for a moment and watched her paint. "I am sorry about scaring you. I shouldn't have. Actually, Jack and the others would be mad at me if they found out. You mind if we keep this between us?"

'Who am I gonna tell?'

"Right." I became entranced for a moment. I realized she was discreetly staring at me and had asked the same question a few times. I shook my head to clear it. "Sorry, what?"

'Do you think I could meet your friends?'

I hadn't even thought of that. Caeden hadn't even asked to see them yet, then again he'd already met Jack. _Oops._ I realized that I hadn't yet told him about meeting the other guardians. I'd also not told him about my roommates yet. "Maybe." I pulled out my sketchpad and a pencil. "Do you really believe in them?" I put my feet up against the edge of the table and settled my pad in my lap. I wouldn't be tempted to set it o the table that way, and there'd be no chance of it becoming visible.

'Why wouldn't I? You're real, why wouldn't they be? You all exist right?'

"Yep, all of us. Even Pitch."

She sat back a little. 'Should you talk about him? I mean, we shouldn't believe in him right?'

"You can believe in him all you want. What you shouldn't do is be afraid of him. It might even do him some good to interact without being feared."

She looked thoughtful after that. We both worked on our respective pieces. She was still painting Imaginary, while I was drawing how the song felt, as I could still hear it. The bell jolted both of us out of our trances though. I looked up at her as she rushed to put everything away. "Maybe I shouldn't draw next to someone so absorbed. When they have a schedule to keep that is."

She laughed softly. "Maybe not."

M looked over at her. "Did you say something?"

"No... I was just... talking to myself."

M nodded in acceptance. I giggled while she looked at me confused. "Nothing."

I went to the Choir room once the students had cleared the halls. I didn't worry about the cameras of students now. There was no class at the moment and the door opened inwards, the camera didn't point towards the door either. I had free reign in this one spot. I opened the door. Man that felt good, I was getting tired of having to slip in behind people and such. This was much more my style. Freedom to do what I want without having to wait for someone else.

I took a stroll around the room, loving that it was empty. The last time I'd been in the room was twelve years ago, in eighth grade. I'd stopped taking choir then because I'd gotten tired of endless classical songs and not liking one of them. I wanted to sing what I wanted, when I wanted. And I didn't want to be shushed because I was singing with abandon while the others surrounding me were demure. Eugh. I noticed that they had one of the rolling T.V.s in the room, and laughed a little that they still had them. A flash of purple caught my eye and I leaned down to look at the VCR tape sitting on the shelf underneath the T.V. If I could have seen myself at that moment, I'd say my features softened. Instead, I'll say that nostalgia flooded me upon reading the title. _Rigoletto_.

I instantly began humming my favorite song from the movie. Mrs. Boger had been showing that movie for years before I'd even started at Brandywine. I'd seen it once before her class, on T.V. when I was probably seven years old. We hadn't been able to finish watching it in class and I begged my mom to take me to Family Video down the street and rent it. To my great relief they actually had a copy. It wasn't until years later that I figured out that no one had ever heard of it.

The last time I'd seen it, I'd rented it again. I'd been watching a compilation on youtube of the best auditions for American Idol and, for the ten seconds they showed this duet, I instantly recognized the song. They'd been singing _The Melody Within The Curse_ which is actually a mash-up of _The Melody Within_ and _The Curse_. Which, in essence are the same song, with different lyrics. One sounds darker and the other lighter, for a reason. I still had all three on my iPod. It was these three songs, which I consider three parts of a whole, that I was humming.

Now that I had it in my head, I couldn't get it out, not that I really wanted to. That meant it was time for me to sing it. I'd been singing since I could mimic the sounds, even if I didn't understand that they were words. Music speaks to me as much as any story. I was dancing around the room, which wasn't small, singing my heart out to the air. I was lost in the music, and I wasn't in the mood to find my way out. Then I heard the door open. I half ignored it, I kept singing, but stopped dancing, more or less. I turned to see who walked in and almost keeled over. "Megan?"

Megan was one of my two best friends from when I'd been mortal. She'd even called me her sister, that's how close we'd been. Song forgotten, I was stunned. She looked so different from the last time I'd seen her... which had been the day I'd died. We'd even gotten ice cream a few hours prior to me leaving for home. She was maybe an inch taller, she'd lost a _lot_ of weight, and, from the looks of things, she'd finally gotten enough money to get the braces she'd always wanted, but her mom had been to psychotic to get for her. She was wearing her hair a little longer than the shoulder length I'd been used to as well. She was very different, but she was still Megan.

She looked like she'd just seen a ghost. Realization dawned. It'd be more appropriate to say that she looked like she'd just _heard _a ghost. She'd heard me singing. I could see her trying to figure out a plausible explanation as to why she'd just heard her dead friend's voice wafting out of the choir room. I was frozen to the spot. I didn't know to be scared, excited, flattered, or sad. I was stuck in adrenaline fueled stillness instead. _What's she doing here?_ Megan had wanted to go places almost as much as me. Almost. She'd always wanted to be a mom though, so she would have been happy settling down. She'd told me she wanted to be a social worker, if she had a choice. I'd have thought she'd be at least in Chicago or some place, well, not Niles.

I was so stunned I didn't react until she was almost on top of me, literally. She'd been moving towards me, in a daze and looking around. I jumped out of the way and knocked over a chair in my haste. She snapped her head towards the sound and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw the toppled chair. I was breathing hard, torn between staying and wanting to see my friend again, comfort her and tell her that it was just me, that I wasn't dead, that I'd gotten to do everything I'd wanted... and running the other way. I ran. Out the door, letting it bang shut behind me. I ran all the way to the other end on the school, to the lecture hall. I hid in the dark, feeling guilty and cowardly.

I stayed in the dark until the bells told me that Caeden would be having lunch... and then stayed longer. About the time the lunches were all over one of the doors cracked open and a small sliver of light grew as someone peeked in. "There you are!" I turned my head in surprise and saw Tanya's head sticking into the room. She walked in and flipped on one of the lights, so it was now, dim instead of dark. "I've been looking for you all day! I figured I'd at least see you at lunch... Why are you sitting in here with the lights off?"

She walked over to me and sat down in the chair next to me. Noticing my expression she asked, "Hey, what's the matter. You look sad."

"I just saw one of my best friends, one who was like a sister to me."

"And?"

I looked at her, too down to be sarcastic. "She didn't see me. She heard me singing and it scared the shit out of her. I'm dead remember? Or, at least, I died and came back. As far as anyone here knows, I died and my body was never found... She almost walked through me." I buried my face into my knees even further. I felt a hand place itself comfortingly on my shoulder. I glanced to my left.

Tanya's concerned face peered back at me. "I'm sorry..." She gave me a small smile. "You know, I'd forgotten that immortals were incorporeal to people who don't believe in them. I guess I slipped into your world pretty quickly, huh?" I smiled ad laughed softly and weakly. "What?"

"You're so much like me. Books, music, art, stories in general, personality... It's like someone took me and added some more normal things into the mix to get you." I looked at the back of the seat in front of me. "That's why I'm so glad that I could get you to see me." I looked back at her. "You _know_. You get stories... just like me. That's why I became Story Tale and not some other legend. Manny knew how much stories mean to me, and he knew it was high time that there was a legend dedicated to them." I was a little surprised I was telling her this. I didn't even say these things to Caeden or to Jack. Why was she so much different. _It's because she's me. She'll react the same, and she wont misinterpret anything._ "Aren't you supposed to be in class?"

"I have English right now, yeah. I asked Breneman if I could go to the library though. I wanted to find you and see what was going on."

"Shouldn't you be getting back to class, then?"

"Not without you. I'm not letting you sit alone in the dark."

I chuckled but stood up. "Fine, I'm coming, I'm coming." She smiled and got up to lead the way. I turned off the light, noticing that she forgot. I followed her to Breneman's room and sat on the floor next to her as they worked on something or other. "Are you planning on signing his podium next year?"

'Maybe.'

"What do you mean, 'maybe'? You should. I did."

'Really? Where?'

I got up and walked over to the podium I crouched down and found my scrawled former name, near the bottom. I pointed it out. "It's right here, at the bottom. Find Beer Ghost you find my name."

'You know who Beer Ghost is?'

"Chickie, I introduced him to the school. Bob and Alfonzo were hovering from school to school, but _I _brought Beer Ghost."

She was wide eyed, not that anyone noticed. Everyone else had their nose in their project, even Breneman. '_You_ started Beer Ghost?'

"That, I did. I take pride in that fact, now that I know he makes regular appearances." I stood up and almost came face to face with Breneman. I say almost because, though I saw him, he didn't see me. I sighed. "I really wish I could talk to you again." I turned and went back to my spot on the floor near Tanya's desk.

'What was that about?'

"Breneman was one of my favorite teachers. He probably remembers the origin of Beer Ghost... I wish he remembered me."

Tanya wouldn't let me leave her side for the rest of the day. I think part of her was worried about me. It was nice that she cared about me - and wasn't mothering me. After the last bell rang she didn't walk towards the doors. Instead she walked towards Breneman's room. "Hey, aren't you gonna miss your bus?"

She shrugged. "I can walk. Besides, I'll be able to talk to you without looking crazy if it's on my way home."

"True." I called a blank page and scrawled a note to Caeden saying I'd be back at about 9:00pm. I folded it into an airplane and launched it. The plane didn't fall like one normally would, but rather kept soring until it floated out the window and presumably to Caeden.

"What was that for?"

"It's how I send messages to people." She nodded in acceptance without asking who it was for. We walked into Breneman's room and she went up to his podium.

"Hey, Breneman." She crouched down on one side of the podium. Pointing at my signature, she said, "I noticed Beer Ghost was on your podium, is this the person who tagged him?"

He craned his head to look. "Oh, yeah, Tori. She was a cool student. She was always recommending books to me. She's actually the one who told me about _Swan Sister_, that book I told you to look up."

I was shocked. Breneman had told her about the book? "Really?" She seemed to be trying to get us to talk to each other, without being able to talk. "Hey, is it true that you've taken your ponytail out before?"

He laughed. Even though Breneman was probably in his seventies now, he still acted like a little kid half the time. That's one of the reasons I'd liked him so much. "Yeah, a few times the Seniors badgered me into it. It's cool, though. A few times the kids took pictures too." He laughed again, which had been his response to us taking pictures in the first place.

"I've almost finished the book, by the way, what's the next one gonna be?"

"Oh, you don't need to read the next one yet, just read your own stuff until we start it."

"Ok, bye."

"See you Monday." Tanya and I walked out of Breneman's class and down the hall. Before we weren't even outside before I started in.

"What was that about? What was the point of asking Breneman about Beer Ghost? And how did you know about his hair?"

"I heard you talking yesterday. I heard you say that you had the picture of him with his hair down." We stepped out the doors, me opening it of my own will. _Screw the cameras._ We started walking through the parking lot. "You said you wished he remembered you. He does. So does Ms. Mitchel. It _was_ you she was talking about yesterday, wasn't it?"

"Smarty pants." She snorted. "What?"

"'Smarty pants'? Really? No one says that."

"Yeah, it was out of style when I was in school too. My mom used to say it a lot, I picked it up from her. That, and using stupid as an adjective. Stupid big, stupid long, stupid early, etc." We got to the corner where the entrance to the school met the road before I spoke again. "Thanks."

She looked at me and smiled. "No problem."


End file.
